Harlem School Performance Improves In Math, English

New York City Public Schools recorded “substantial” gains on state English and math exams announced Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. With more students grading at higher levels, the two school districts that comprise Harlem are reflecting those citywide gains.

“Our public schools are a cornerstone of New York City,” de Blasio said. “These results represent important progress and outline real improvements across each borough of our City. We congratulate our students, families and devoted educators for this critical step forward. We remain focused on building on these gains and others – such as the highest-ever high school graduation rate – to deliver equity and excellence for every public school student across the City, no matter their zip code.”

The citywide rise in test scores was consistent with the data for Districts 4 and 5 — which span almost the entirety of Harlem, Randall’s Island and a small sliver of Washington Heights.

The test results released Monday included data for all students grades 3-8, and the data was also further broken down by factors such as gender, ethnicity and free lunch eligibility.

Among all students in all grades tests results increased in both English and math compared to last year’s numbers for District 4. The percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 (the highest performing) in English jumped from 23.6 percent to 31.8 percent. The improvement was less noticeable when it came to math scores, where the percentage of students in Level 3 or 4 jumped from 26.4 percent to 27.8 percent.

In District 5 the numbers followed the same pattern. The percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in English jumped from 16.3 percent to 21.5 percent while the percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in math jumped from 15.2 percent to 16.6 percent.

When the numbers are broken down by students’ ethnicity, the data shows that the district still has work to do. While improving for the most part, numbers among black and Hispanic students are still much lower than among white and Asian students. The same goes for students eligible for free lunch, where the eligible students achieved lower test scores on average than students not eligible for free lunch.

Here’s how the test result numbers break down by ethnicity in District 4:

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in math:

• Black: 22 percent in 2015, 21.5 percent in 2016
• Hispanic: 22.8 percent in 2015, 24.1 percent in 2016
• White: 52.4 percent in 2015, 56.6 percent in 2016
• Asian: 78.1 percent in 2015, 77.8 percent in 2016

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in English:

• Black: 20.9 percent in 2015, 28.2 in 2016
• Hispanic: 19.8 percent in 2015, 27.7 percent in 2016
• White: 48.3 percent in 2015, 60.4 percent in 2016
• Asian: 67 percent in 2015, 73.8 percent in 2016

Here’s how the test result numbers break down by free lunch eligibility in District 4:

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in math:

• Free lunch: 22.6 percent in 2015, 24.2 percent in 2016
• No free lunch: 42.8 percent in 2015, 42 percent in 2016

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in English:

• Free lunch: 20.1 percent in 2015, 27.6 percent in 2016
• No free lunch: 38.1 percent in 2015, 47.8 percent in 2016

Here’s how the test result numbers break down by ethnicity in District 5:

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in math:

• Black: 11.8 percent in 2015, 13.2 percent in 2016
• Hispanic: 16.1 percent in 2015, 17.3 percent in 2016
• White: 38.4 percent in 2015, 37.3 percent in 2016
• Asian: 44.4 percent in 2015, 41.9 percent in 2016

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in English:

• Black: 13.9 percent in 2015, 19 in 2016
• Hispanic: 15.5 percent in 2015, 20.2 percent in 2016
• White: 46.4 percent in 2015, 50 percent in 2016
• Asian: 50 percent in 2015, 45.5 percent in 2016

Here’s how the test result numbers break down by free lunch eligibility in District 5:

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in math:

• Free lunch: 13.9 percent in 2015, 15 percent in 2016
• No free lunch: 23 percent in 2015, 27.1 percent in 2016

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in English:

• Free lunch: 14.3 percent in 2015, 19.3 percent in 2016
• No free lunch: 28.5 percent in 2015, 34.8 percent in 2016

Photo Credit: Shutterstock and article source.