Local urban school districts administer English and math state tests | Rare Techy

ALBANY – The New York State Department of Education has released data on math and English language arts (ELA) testing in grades three through eight for the 2021-2022 school year. Several Westchester school districts rank among the best in the state, while others in the region rank among the lowest among the state’s 646 school districts for which data is available.

State Department of Education spokeswoman Emily DeSantis explained the need for testing, saying, “Multiple measures of student learning, including state assessments, are used at the local level to help create individualized learning plans so students have the support they need. NYSED has distributed federal CARES, CRSSA, and ARP funding to help schools and districts address the unique learning needs of students and instructional time constraints caused by the pandemic. We are committed to fostering high-quality instructional opportunities that provide authentic measures of deep learning.

Westchester County’s Bronxville Union Free School District ranks first in the state in ELA and math. A total of 89 percent of students in the Bronxville district in grades three through eight scored “proficient” on the ELA test and 88 percent were proficient in math. The district scored the highest marks in the state.

The Newburgh Enlarged City School District ranked 498th in ELA, with 33 percent of students testing “proficient.” The district’s math scores improved slightly, ranking 438th, with 26 percent of students who took the test scoring proficient.

Only 25 percent of students in the Monticello Central School District in Sullivan County scored proficient on the ELA test, resulting in a state rank of 601. Only 15 percent of students were proficient in mathematics, resulting in a rank of 525.

In the Poughkeepsie City School District (PCSD), 1,501 students took the ELA test. Out of them only 329 have passed. For ELA, 22 percent of students were proficient, ranking PCSD 623 out of 646 districts in the state. 10 percent of students in grades three through eight were proficient in math, ranking the district 539th in the state.