By WINNIE HU
Published: December 7, 2011
New York City students scored slightly lower on federal math tests this year compared with two years ago, according to results released on Wednesday, even as test scores of their counterparts in other big cities inched upward.
The results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the nation’s report card, showed that the city’s fourth-grade math average dropped three points to 234 (on a scale of 500) from 2009, the last time the exams were taken.
Federal education officials cautioned that the changes were too small to be significant, but the dip diverged from the trend nationally and for other large cities. In 2011, the average fourth-grade math score rose by one point nationally and two points for cities with 250,000 or more people.
For the city’s eighth graders, the average math score dropped one point from 2009, to 272; nationally, the average eighth-grade math score rose by one point, and three points for students in large cities.
On reading tests, the city’s fourth-grade average score remained flat at 216; the national score also stayed flat at 220. The average eighth-grade reading score rose by two points in New York, to 254, a positive turn. Nationally, the eighth-grade average score was up a point.
The results for the city’s students generally matched what happened across New York State on fourth- and eighth-grade math scores, which declined, and on eighth-grade reading scores, which rose. But while the statewide fourth-grade reading score declined, the city’s held steady.
And even with the recent declines, the city’s fourth- and eighth-grade math scores are still up eight points and six points, respectively, since 2003.
Allison Horowitz, a policy analyst with the Education Trust, an advocacy group promoting academic achievement, said New York City’s overall averages had not improved as much as in other large cities, though there had been “good progress” in moving students up from the lowest achievement level since 2003.
“Parents in New York City have the same high aspirations for their kids as other parents across the country,” she said. “And we’re not going to get all students where they need to be if all we’re doing is lifting the floor.”
Indeed, the 2011 results show the city has made little, if any, progress in reaching the lowest-performing students since 2009. The percentage of students performing below basic achievement levels actually grew by one point in fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math, and three points in fourth-grade math. Once again the only improvement came in eighth-grade reading, with a three-point drop.
At the top end, the percentage of students performing at or above proficiency level shrank by two points each in fourth-grade and eighth-grade math from 2009. Among fourth-graders, 33 percent are at or above the proficient level in math in 2011, and 76 percent are at or above the basic level — both below national percentages, but better than those of other large cities.
There was a two-point increase in the percentage of students at or above proficiency in eighth-grade reading, while fourth-grade reading was unchanged.
But New York City showed significant improvement in narrowing the achievement gap for poor students over a decade. Eighth-grade students eligible for free and reduced lunch scored 14 points lower on reading than those who were not eligible in 2011, compared with 30 points lower in 2003.
The achievement gap for blacks also appeared to shrink slightly in the city. In 2011, black students averaged 26 points lower than white students on reading tests in fourth-grade, compared with 29 points lower in 2002. In math, they averaged 22 points lower in fourth-grade and 30 points lower in eighth grade, compared with 25 points and 36 points lower in 2003.
Girls generally did better on reading tests, averaging nine points higher in fourth-grade, eight points higher in eighth-grade. On math tests, there was little difference between sexes
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