BUFFALO — Only 31 percent of New York students in grades three through eight met or exceeded math and English proficiency standards last spring, according to results released Wednesday. But education officials cautioned that the steep drop from previous years reflected a rise in standards, not a decline in student performance.
New York, as well as Kentucky, now tests students based on the more rigorous Common Core learning standards adopted by most states as a way to better prepare students for college and careers.
Student growth on the tests is a universal factor in the teacher and principal evaluations that New York requires.