State Education Test Scores Take Nosedive

UFT President Michael Mulgrew issued a statement that also criticized the Department of Education, accusing it of overemphasizing testing : “We’ve never believed that standardized test scores alone are a reliable measure of how schools, teachers or students are doing, nor that preparation for standardized tests is a substitute for real learning. In fact, for years our teachers have been saying that turning their classrooms into test prep academies – as the Department of Education forced them to do – wasn’t really helping children learn. In light of the state’s more rigorous standards, the DOE’s success in raising pupil proficiency has turned out to be illusory.”

At a press conference this afternoon, Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said they welcomed the state's new grading system and said it was consistent with their efforts to raise the bar for student performance in New York City. Bloomberg cited as an example the city's decision to end social promotion. "I've always believed the best way to raise student achievement is to demand higher" performance, Bloomberg said. "We should never underestimate our student's ability to rise to it."

Bloomberg and Klein also said the city's low performance on the 2010 tests doesn't undermine the progress that students have made under his administration. Klein cited as proof the city's increasing scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test many believe provides a more objective measure of student achievement than the state tests. "When we took over the school system, the number of people proficient was lower and we marched those kids way up the ramp," Klein said. "If you compare apples to apples what you're going to find out is that New York City from 20O6 until 2010 has made real progress."