Queens elementary school students racked up New York City’s highest scores in recent city-wide math and English Language Arts (ELA) tests prepared by the city Department of Education (DOE) for 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th graders.
Scores on the two tests reached a seven-year high. Nearly 166,000 tests were taken in Queens.
For the first time in nearly 15 years, over 50% of the city’s students met or exceeded scholastic English (54.8%) and math (50%) standards. In addition, black and Hispanic youngsters achieved their greatest one-year gains and best performances ever on both tests.
Keys to the city’s test score improvements were highlighted by the DOE’s Dr. Lori Mei, its Head of Testing, and Deputy Chancellor Carmen Farina, Deputy Chancellor For Teaching and Learning.
Dr. Mei revealed that a large percentage of students in several Queens districts are now meeting and exceeding ELA and math standards at a very high rate, as well as showing large one-year gains between 2004 and 2005.
Farina said that Districts 26 (Bayside, Little Neck) and 25 (Flushing, Whitestone) ranked first and second because a high number of their students met or exceeded city-wide math standards. Similarly, both districts also ranked first and third in meeting ELA standards.
DOE test reports show that Queens’ seven districts are ranked among New York City’s fifteen top-rated schools in both math and ELA studies. In addition, Districts 27 (Ozone Park) and 29 (Hollis) showed the highest city-wide rate of improvement in math, while District 27 ranked second in improved ELA scores.
Contributing to these gains, said Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, was the DOE’s new core curriculum, coaches, professional development, and aggressive intervention programs for struggling students, plus the hard work of the city’s teaching staff.
These results, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, “are remarkable, and a sign that things are moving in the right direction.”
Victor Ross is a freelance writer.