Hauppauge Takes a Dive in State Test Scores

After New York State education officials released test scores suggesting that Hauppauge students were significantly less proficient in math and English that previously thought, school administrators said that the scores no not reflect a decline in teaching or learning.

The tests given this past spring were the first to test students based on the national Common Core curriculum, which New York adopted in 2010. Individual school districts had three years to implement the Common Core standards, knowing that the spring 2013 assessments were on the horizon.

In a statement released Wednesday, State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr., acknowledged that more students across the state struggled on these tests this year than in previous years because they were based on the "new, challenging standards" of the curriculum.

"We take great pride in the quality education we provide to all students in our school district. This year's assessment results are not an accurate reflection of our students' ability to learn or on the instructional skills of our professional staff," Superintendent Patricia Sullivan-Kriss said in a statement.

Across Long Island, 37.5 percent of students in grades three through eight passed the new math test, compared with 75.4 percent last year. In English, the percent of students across those grades passing the latest tests was 39.6 percent, down from 67.2 percent in 2012.

Long Island School administrators, including those from Hauppauge, encouraged state officials including Senators Stephen Flanagan and Carl Marcellino to slow the implementation of the curriculum.

Hauppauge's concerns included the notion that the new assessments were implemented with insufficient time to make curricular adjustments and with little to no information related to the structure and scoring of the new assessments. 

"Suffolk County superintendents strongly believe there is no correlation between these latest assessment results and our students' ability to be college and career ready. This opinion is supported by the high percentage of recent graduates attending many of the most prominent and prestigious colleges and universities in the country, as well as the significant recognitions our students achieved on all grade levels during this past school year," Sullivan-Kriss said.

In addition, the Common Core assessments were structured to allow for a significant decrease in the number of students scoring in Levels 3 and 4, which indicate proficiency in the English language arts and mathematics.

Below are the percentages of students that fall into Level 3 and 4 in each grade. Level 3 indicates proficiency in standards for their grade and those in Level 4 are considered more than sufficient for the expectations at this grade.

Grade 3

ELA Level 3: 40.1 Level 4: 5.2

Math Level 3: 24.7 Level 4: 12.5

Grade 4:

ELA Level 3: 29.8 Level 4: 8.9

Math Level 3: 30.6 Level 4: 10.9

Grade 5

ELA Level 3: 29.6 Level 4: 7.1

Math Level 3: 22.4 Level 4: 8.9

Grade 6

ELA Level 3: 24.5 Level 4: 20.1

Math Level 3: 20.9 Level 4: 19.5

Grade 7

ELA Level 3: 35.8 Level 4: 11.3

Math Level 3: 31.1 Level 4: 9.5

Grade 8

ELA Level 3: 34.4 Level 4: 15.2

Math Level 3: 32.7 Level 4: 7.7