New York lowering minimum test scores for student proficiency in math , English: report

New York state is preparing to lower its minimum test scores for student proficiency in math and English following what an official described as a “learning loss” during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The changes come after the scores for third through eighth grade tests slumped in 2022 compared to 2019, with no eighth grader in Schenectady – which has a population of nearly 70,000 – achieving proficiency in math, according to the Times Union. 

“Yes, there’s learning loss between 2019 and 2022, but in some ways we don’t want to keep going backwards,” Marianne Perie, the co-chair of an advisory committee that reports to New York’s Board of Regents, told the newspaper. 

“We’re at this new normal. So for New York we are saying the new baseline is 2022,”she added. 

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The committee is now in the process of resetting the lowest scores for each test to be deemed proficient, the Times Union reports. 

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In the 2019 overall figures, 45.4% of New York’s students were graded proficient in English and 46.7% were in math, according to Syracuse.com. 

Last year, despite the English scores rising to 46.6% proficiency, the number of students who demonstrated proficiency in math fell 8.1% to just 38.6%, the newspaper adds. 

“How much third-grade math is just enough for me to put you in proficiency,” Perie told the Times Union, describing how officials are working to determine a score that is borderline but “good enough.”