New York City fourth- and eighth-graders have made little if any improvement since 2007 on the “gold standard” national math test — prompting critics to question the hefty gains city kids made on state math tests over that same period.
Just 35 percent of city fourth-graders scored proficiently this year on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a tick up from the 34 percent who did so in 2007.
Twenty-six percent of eighth-graders also met that benchmark this year — up 4 points since 2007.
By comparison, city fourth-graders’ proficiency jumped by 10.8 percentage points since 2007 on the state math tests — to 84.9 percent meeting or surpassing that benchmark.
Eighth-graders made an even more dramatic gain of 25.7 percentage points since 2007 on the state math tests — to 71.3 percent scoring proficiently.
“We have had eight years of relentless focus on test prep for the state examinations that has led to sharply rising scores on those tests,” said teachers’ union president Michael Mulgrew. “But the NAEP, the most respected test, shows that our students have actually made very small gains.”
Department of Education officials said the city outpaced the rest of the state since 2003 on the NAEP math exams in both grades, and in fourth grade since 2007.
But the NAEP results also show the city has failed to cut into the racial achievement gap between white students and their black and Hispanic classmates in either grade since 2003.