This is true of our schools as well.
Scores on the new standardized tests used by the city dropped dramatically when compared to scores from last year, but some of the city’s most vulnerable populations — minorities, English-learners and special education students — experienced some of the harshest drops.
The harder state tests did more than cause two-thirds of city students to flunk — they also widened the achievement gap, according to new data obtained by the Daily News.
Districts with the most high-needs students did especially poorly in reading and math, according to a report from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.
“They bore the brunt of the decline,” said Megan Hester, researcher at the institute, a think tank at Brown University. “With the increase of standards, more of them fell below the bar.”
The drops magnify the across-the-board abysmal scores that were released on Wednesday — just under 30% of New York City students met state math standards and 26% passed the reading exams.
According to the Annenberg report, schools with the highest concentration of special-education students saw a 64% decrease in reading scores and 72% decline in math scores. Those with the most English-language learners dropped by roughly 70% in both reading and math.
Black and Latino students suffered a 56% decrease in reading scores and more than a 60% decrease in math scores from 2012 to 2013, according to the report.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
English and math scores plunged in the South Bronx and other districts, but new Common Core study materials to help students prepare for the tougher tests will be delivered to schools this fall, officials said.
Despite launching several reforms to close the achievement gap, like Mayor Bloomberg’s Young Men’s Initiative, city education officials acknowledged that minority group students and other vulnerable populations will likely do worse when harder standards are implemented.
“Anytime you raise standards, the achievement gap for our neediest students gets bigger,” said Shael Polakow-Suransky, the city Education Department’s chief academic officer.
But officials vowed that scores would improve with the overhaul of lessons and test prep.
Since 2010, the city has spent $233 million to help prepare kids for the tougher exams, with more money going to teacher training, tutoring services and classroom materials.
More than 1 million books and classroom resources linked to the new Common Core standards will arrive by the first day of school Sept. 9, officials said.
Still, districts that have been struggling for years took the biggest hit — showing they don’t have the proper resources to make sweeping changes so that next year’s results are better, critics charged.
“We knew it was going to be bad, but not this bad,” said Love Andujar, who has two children at schools in District 7 in the South Bronx. “Almost all of the children here need special help.”
District 7 had the biggest drop in scores citywide, with a 64% drop in reading scores and 75% drop in math scores from 2012 to 2013.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/achievement-gap-widens-city-new-standardized-tests-article-1.1423531#ixzz2blLBNl5l
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