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Math, English Proficiency Scores for Grades 3-8 Go Up in 2016, State Says

 Students in grades 3–8 take the State English Language Arts (ELA) test each spring.
Students in grades 3–8 take the State English Language Arts (ELA) test each spring.
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MIDTOWN — Elementary and middle school students saw big gains in English Language Arts (ELA) and math proficiency test scores in 2016, according to a report released by the state Friday.

Third through eighth graders' ELA proficiency increased 7.6 percent this year, from 30.4 percent in 2015 to 38 percent in 2016, according to the New York State Education Department.

Math proficiency increased 1.2 percent, from 35.2 percent in 2015 to 36.4 percent in 2016.

“We have seen incredible improvement on these exams, and it’s so important that we’ve seen it in every single school district — a testament to not only the hard work of students, but the importance of having strong educators at the helm: our superintendents, principals and teachers,” Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said in a statement.

Black and Hispanic students saw big gains with an increase of 7.7 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively, in English proficiency in 2016, according to the report.

“In addition to the increases in proficiency, we saw a substantial decrease in students scoring at the lowest proficiency level — particularly black and Hispanic students; these students are making real progress towards becoming proficient,” Fariña said.

Charter school scores also saw a big jump this year and had a 13.7 percent increase in English in 2016, with 43 percent of students scoring at a proficient level, compared to 29.3 percent in 2015.

The content of the tests for 2015 and 2016 were “comparable" but there were changes made to the exam this year as well as to the testing environment, making it not an “apples-to-apples” comparison, according to the report.

There were less test questions this year and increased time for students to complete the exams. Teachers also had more experience preparing students for the exams, according to the report.

Still, officials called the results “important progress” for the city.

“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,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.