New York's Reading Scores Rise Up

In an article that was published today in the New York Times, written by Jennifer Medina, we learn that reading and math scores for New York students in grades three through eight are showing sharp gains across the state of New York since last year. State reading and math test scores are up, which is fantastic news. The gains are in the five biggest cities in New York.

Across the sate of New York, 81 percent of students tested were at or above grade level in math, up from 73 percent last year, state education officials said. Reading scores, which has proved more difficult to improve, showed that about 69 percent of students met or exceeded state standards for their grade level, up from 63 percent last year. The passing rate is the percentage of students scoring in level 3 or 4.

New York state's education commissioner, Richard P. Mills believes these results are “encouraging and exciting.” He also said they were evidence that the state’s emphasis on giving more money to poorer school districts and focusing on high standards was successful.

This is really no surprise to me, because as you know I have been closely following educational trends and posting them in this blog and also on my website at http://www.roccobasile.com/ -- and we have seen tremendous results among the students at Children of the City who are in some of the the after school and summer programs where high priority is placed on each student’s academic success with intense tutoring and daily personal homework help. We have always seen dramatic increases in student’s reading and math levels, healthy study habits, communications, improved peer relationships, and more. Click here to learn more about this program.

As for the recent results in our state, for example, click here to see Brooklyn's results. These results have been climbing steadily over the last two years, and this year, about 57.6 percent of the students performed at or above grade level in reading, which is up from 50.7 percent in 2006, and 74.3 percent did so in math, up from 57 percent two years ago.

Still, four out of ten students in the city are still not reading at grade level, and although the students had improved substantially on New York’s exams, such gains were not mirrored in the national tests. Everyone agrees that the gap in achievement is between blacks and Latinos compared with whites had narrowed in the last several years.

The state education system is on its way to helping the overall situation, but programs like Children of the City will continue to bridge the gap and help those in need, by reaching out and providing solutions, where basic social services programs fail.