Baldwin students’ test scores are mixed

Baldwin students showed a wide mix of test scores last week when the State Education Department released results of the controversial Common Core exams.

“We take our test score results seriously and continuously work to help students improve through differentiated instruction,” Superintendent Shari L. Camhi said. “However academic achievement is much more complex than one test score. We look at achievement through multiple lenses. ”

The results of the tests, for children in grades three through eight, remain somewhat incomplete, because many Baldwin students refused to take the exams. According to the district, 851 out of an eligible 2,203 students “opted out” of the English Language Arts tests. Statewide, an estimated 20 percent of those eligible students chose not to take them.

Test-takers were ranked on four levels in the two subjects, ELA and math. Students who scored on Level 1 were well below proficiency; Level 2, partially proficient; Level 3, proficient; and Level 4, exceeding proficiency levels.