Every year students in third through eighth grade sit down for New York State assessments. While the tests can be challenging for students, they also provide an opportunity for school districts to do some assessing of their own curriculums.
“Our administrators and teachers are able to use the data to help identify kids in need,” Adam Fine, superintendent of the East Hampton School District, said by phone early last month. “Why didn’t a student understand this concept? Was it a teaching thing, or a learning thing? What was going on in that moment? Why is this concept not being understood and how can I adjust it?”
Every student takes math or English language arts assessments, and those in fifth and eighth grade also take a science exam. New York State tests are graded on a scale of 1 to 4. The state designates scores of a 3 or a 4 as proficient.
The average proficiency rate for the E.L.A. exam across New York State in 2024 was 46 percent, meaning that 430,981 students demonstrated proficiency out of the 930,299 tested across third through eighth grade, with 198,541 opting out of the test.
At the Springs School there was a 52-percent proficiency rate across grades three through eight for the E.L.A. exam. A standout was the eighth grade with an 82-percent proficiency rate, however that grade at Springs also had the most students, 36 out of 75, opting out.
In Bridgehampton, fifth grade was the standout for the E.L.A. exam, where the seven students who took the exam achieved proficiency. It should be noted that there are only 18 students in the class and 11 opted out of the exam. In Montauk the standout was the eighth grade with an 83-percent proficiency rate. There, too, however, more than half the students — 14 of 26 — opted out.
Last year the state’s average proficiency rate for the math exam was higher, at 54 percent. That is 516,828 students out of 952,590 achieving a 3 or 4, with 176,203 opting out. Additionally 61,821 students took the algebra 1 Regents instead of the state math exam. Among students in sixth through eighth grades, the proficiency rate was 88 percent.
The Sag Harbor School District had a standout year in terms of the math exam: 100 percent of the students who took the algebra 1 Regents achieved proficiency, as did 71 percent of elementary school students taking the math test. Both exceeded the state averages for the respective tests.
Among the two grades taking the state science exam there was a 44 percent proficiency rate, or 138,599 students out of the 314,219 who took the test. That includes the 68,053 eighth graders who took the living environment Regents, of which there was a 79-percent proficiency rate statewide; 66,628 students opted out of the science exam.
When it comes to the state science exam, Bridgehampton far exceeded the statewide average with 72 percent of students in fifth and eighth grade passing with proficiency. Meanwhile in Amagansett, 12 students in fifth grade took the exam with no opt-outs. They scored a proficiency rate of 42 percent, higher than the state’s fifth grade average of 35 percent.
“We still did better than the state average, but we would have liked to have more level 4s,” Mike Rogers, the Amagansett superintendent said by phone in early December, adding that “the state exam changed. It was hard to predict how the students would do and I think we now have a better understanding.”
At East Hampton Middle School, the fifth grade had a 47-percent proficiency rate and the eighth grade had a 23-percent proficiency rate. However, the majority of the eighth grade, 44 out of 91 students took the living environment Regents and had a proficiency rate of 95 percent.
When the data and scores from the state tests are released, school districts have the opportunity to analyze the scores and compare students to New York State’s expectations, as well as to the students’ own past performance on the exams.
Additionally the schools can adapt curriculum and teaching methods to the needs of their students. For example, in Amagansett the school created the WIN period, acronym for “What I Need,” in its schedule, so that students can receive help in whatever subject they need.
According to Eric Kelt, principal of the Springs School, the school is working on a new curriculum style that will change how E.L.A. skills are taught, based on “the science of reading.”
“By aligning our literacy instruction with research-based practices,” Mr. Kelt said by email last month, “with a focus on phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension the curriculum will allow students to grow as readers.”
And in Sag Harbor, at an October school board meeting Matt Malone, the elementary school principal spoke about how that district utilizes the information from the exams.
“Students that are not meeting standards are eligible for what’s known as Academic Intervention Services, A.I.S.,” Mr. Malone said, describing it as “an umbrella of services.”
These services can help students outside of class with extra math instruction or extra E.L.A. instruction. But this can also encompass things like support from a school counselor or even focusing on correcting low attendance.
With Reporting by Christine Sampson