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Baldwin students’ performance on the 2011-12 state English Language Arts and mathematics assessments, given to those in grades 3 through 8, saw both gains and losses when compared with the results in 2010-11.
This results of this year’s exams, released last week by the New York State Education Department, revealed that while Baldwin schools’ scores were below the county averages across the board, they exceeded state averages by a healthy margin. The district’s greatest improvements over last year were in the grade 8 math assessment, which 73.3 percent of students passed, compared with 64.6 percent in 2011, and the grade 4 math exam, where the passing rate jumped from 74.1 to 81.2 percent. The Grade 3 English exam showed the most significant step backward, with only 70 percent of students passing, compared with 76.2 last year.
“For us, this begins a process of closely analyzing the results so they can inform decisions about programs, distribution of resources and assignment of students to various support programs,” said James Scannell, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction. “This process begins now and will continue well into the fall. Overall results, individual school results, the results of individual students and the results of each accountability group are broken out and reviewed with the Board of Education, administrators, supervisors and teachers.”
Asked how he felt Baldwin fared this year compared with previous years, Scannell was reservedly optimistic. “A preliminary review of district results indicates that we continue to compare favorably to statewide results and neighboring school districts,” he said, “with our overall scores similar to last year’s, with most scores staying the same or increasing somewhat.”
Overall performance on the assessments, statewide and across Long Island, showed a slight uptick in 2012, which Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch called “positive momentum” in a statement on the Education Department’s website. Although Long Island students’ passing percentages improved from 64.2 percent in 2011 to 67.1 percent this year on the ELA exam and from 74.6 to 75.4 percent in math, however, Tisch said she still felt that some students were being underserved.
“Too many of our students, especially students of color, English Language Learners and special education students, are currently not on a course for college and career readiness,” the chancellor’s statement read. “In the fall we will begin to phase in a new, more challenging, content rich curriculum and continue to press for the implementation of a rigorous teacher evaluation system in every district across the state.”
A breakdown of how each Baldwin school fared, as well as scores from other school districts, can be found at www.p12.nysed.gov.
