US Reading and Math Scores Fell Sharply During Pandemic, New Data Reveals

Math scores for New York City students took a nosedive during the pandemic — with only 38% of kids in grades 3-8 being proficient in the subject last school year, according to results of statewide standardized tests released Wednesday.

That’s a dip of nearly 8 percentage points from 2019, before COVID-19 hit, when 46% of students made the grade, the highly-anticipated data put out by the city shows.

Meanwhile, kids in grades 3-5 — who were just learning how to read during the worst of pandemic-era school disruptions — saw a substantial drop in English scores, though results in that subject increased for those in 6th through 8th grade.

As a whole, less than half of 3rd through 8th graders were considered proficient in English last school year, the data shows.

The results offer a first look at how students in the nation’s largest public system are faring in the aftermath of school closures and the trauma induced by COVID-19.

“While results are complicated by the pandemic, the results reflect hard work by our students, families and educators during a difficult time,” said First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg in a statement.

“They also reflect opportunity gaps and outcomes in particular for Black and Hispanic students as well as students with disabilities and English-language learners that are unacceptable,” he said.

Roughly 36% and 37% of black and Hispanic students passed the English test, compared to 67% and 71% of their white and Asian peers. Similar patterns emerged in math, with 21% and 23% of black and Hispanic students passing, while 59% and 68% white and Asian schoolkids deemed proficient.

Students with disabilities and English-language learners showed some improvements in reading, but their pass rate declined in math. Fewer than 2 in 5 schoolkids with a disability passed either test, despite there being alternative assessments for kids with the most severe needs. Just 13% of current English learners showed proficiency in reading, and 15% in math.

Weisberg added that his focus “looking ahead” is for all students to graduate on track for careers, economic security and “a positive force for change.”

Officials suggested remote learning may have had a bigger impact on math scores than reading.

English results for kids in 6th and 7th grade, specifically, saw a big improvement since the last time tests were widely administered in 2019.

But scores of the youngest test takers — 3rd and 4th graders — have plummeted following school closures. English proficiency for 3rd graders dropped by 4 percentage points, while those in 4th grade saw a dip of 6 percentage points from 2019.

“These students would have been in 1st and 2nd grades in March 2020” when classes went remote, explained Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates for Children, “grades when children are mastering the relationships between sounds and letters, and building the foundational literacy skills that will shape their future academic trajectory.”

Research shows students who do not learn how to read by 3rd grade will struggle to master the basic skill later on.

Sweet added she was “encouraged” the current administration under Mayor Eric Adams has prioritized literacy, but warned of challenges ahead.

“Shifting what happens in thousands of classrooms on a day-to-day basis is no small task,” she said, “and the devil is truly in the details.”

The last time that a majority of students sat for the state tests, in 2019, more than half of city schoolkids still couldn’t handle basic math or English, even while scores ticked up slightly. Only 47.4% in grades 3-8 passed the English language arts exams, and 45.6% the math. The English proficiency rate improved 0.7% from the year before and math scores went up by 2.9%.

Roughly 80% of local kids did not take the state exams in the 2020-21 school year, when students who were mostly learning remotely had to opt into the tests.

Last school year, more than 10% of all public school kids opted out of one or both tests, compared to 4% in 2019. Though in-person learning had resumed full time, roughly 40% of city students were regularly absent from school.

“Chronic absenteeism, which is not obvious in the scores, is a hidden dimension,” said David Bloomfield, a professor of education law and policy at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center.“Those kids are disproportionately represented in that 10% who didn’t even take the test.”

Bloomfield suggested there could be challenges to interpreting the city data without having the results for the state as a whole, especially when it comes to the disparity in reading scores by grade.

“When you see what looks like a pretty clear division between the lower grades and higher grades, it may be an artifact of the test. We won’t know until we see statewide test scores come out — to see whether there’s been an overall pattern, or if this is unique to New York City,” he said.

https://nypost.com/2022/09/28/nyc-students-took-hit-in-math-gained-in-english-during-covid/

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State data offer further proof that school lockdowns were a disaster for NYC kids

Lockdowns set New York City’s public-school kids back big-time, state test data just confirmed — fresh proof that the COVID-phobic teachers union put the children’s interests last.

Math scores for kids in Grades 3-8 took a nosedive — with only 38% of kids being proficient. That was a drop of nearly 8 percentage points from 2019.

Reading scores dropped in grades 3-5, but rose in grades 6-8 (though the latter figure may well reflect a dumbed-down exam, since it cuts against the national trend). And overall, less than half the kids tested as proficient in reading.

Plus, the number of city kids taking the tests was down noticeably, even allowing for lower enrollment. Since opt-outs tend to be lower-scoring, that suggests the real picture is even more grim.

Kudos to Schools Chancellor David Banks for getting the basic facts straight: “No matter what the latest test results tell you, I can tell you the system is broken in far too many ways. We are trying to create a new way forward.”

The State Education Department, meanwhile, is trying to hide the bad news. It sent the test scores to school districts statewide in mid-August, but banned public release of the info until now — and still refuses to release easy-to-compare data for the whole state. Historically, the public always got the full picture in August.

This, after SED cancelled the exams in the pandemic’s first year and made them completely optional in the second. Nor does it have any real excuse for keeping so much info under wraps now.

The obvious conclusion: Unlike Banks, the folks in charge of state education policy don’t want parents realizing the bad news, at least until after Election Day.

New Yorkers should be asking why more than half of the city’s public-school kids aren’t proficient in English or Math, despite record funding for education. Banks, to his great credit, knows that the system is a mess and that more money isn’t the answer. He’s intent on holding bureaucrats, principals and teachers accountable.

But SED, controlled by Democrats utterly beholden to teachers unions, has the opposite agenda: It wants ever-more spending and ever-less accountability.

The question is whether the special interests can succeed in stopping Banks from delivering the change the city’s kids so desperately need.

https://nypost.com/2022/09/28/state-data-offer-further-proof-that-school-lockdowns-were-a-disaster-for-kids/

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Alliance Defending Freedom to argue Connecticut policy harms girls' sports, is 'clear violation of Title IX'

Oral arguments are set to begin Thursday in a case involving four female athletes who challenged a Connecticut policy that allows males who identify as female to compete in girls’ athletic events.

Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing track athletes Selina Soule, Alanna Smith, Chelsea Mitchell, and Ashley Nicoletti in Soule v. Connecticut Association of Schools, said in a press release ahead of arguments that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s policy resulted in males who identify as female "consistently depriving" the women of honors and opportunities to compete at elite levels. The group argues, for instance, that the young women were denied medals and/or advancement opportunities. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit on April 25, 2021, but the plaintiffs have appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

"What we're arguing before the court tomorrow at the Second Circuit is that the court should allow this case to move forward, that girls should be able to make their case in court and demonstrate that males coming in and dominating girls' sports is a clear violation of Title IX," ADF Senior Counsel Christiana Kiefer told Fox News Digital.

The ACLU is among those defending Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller, two transgender student athletes who have since graduated from Connecticut high schools. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny dismissed the lawsuit in April on procedural grounds, saying in the ruling that there was no dispute to resolve because the two transgender athletes have graduated, and the plaintiffs could not identify other female transgender athletes.

ACLU of Connecticut didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We think everyone is protected under Title IX on the same basis, and that's based on their biological sex," Kiefer continued. "The whole reason that we have women's sports as a separate category is because there are actual physical differences between males and females. Science shows that there's anywhere from a 10 to a 50% performance advantage that males have over their female counterparts. So, if we want a future where girls like my clients, Selina, Chelsea, Alanna can continue to compete to be the best that they can to earn college scholarships, to showcase their talents, then we have to protect the integrity of women's sports."

"Males will always have inherent physical advantages over comparably talented and trained girls; Title IX’s whole purpose was to ensure that girls had equal athletic opportunities to compete—and win—in girls’ sports events," ADF Senior Counsel Roger Brooks, who will be arguing before the court on behalf of the female athletes in Thursday's oral arguments said in a press release. "And when our laws and policies fail to recognize the real physical differences between males and females, women and girls bear the brunt of the harm. It’s our hope that the 2nd Circuit will give the young women we represent the right to pursue their case and put women’s sports back on a level playing field."

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference declined to comment ahead of the hearing when Fox News Digital reached out.

On the 50th anniversary of Title IX, a federal civil rights law established in 1972 designed to create equal opportunities for women in education and athletics, in July, President Biden unveiled new draft rules that sparked the fury of many parents for how the new proposals would expand the definition of sex.

The proposed regulations would sweep gender identity into the law’s protections, "strengthen[ing] protections for LGBTQIA+ students who face discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity," according to the Department of Education.

Should the draft rules become law, Kiefer predicted it would have a "devastating impact" on female athletes.

Other female athletes have spoken out against policies they've argued are unfair to women's sports. Notably, former All-American University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines has blasted policies allowing Lia Thomas, a former transgender athlete for the University of Pennsylvania, to compete against her in last year's NCAA tournaments.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/alliance-defending-freedom-argue-connecticut-policy-harms-girls-sports-clear-violation-title-ix

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