COVID-19’s new normal will soon apply to the way New York’s third through eighth grade students are declared proficient on state tests.

The state Board of Regents heard a report during its most recent meeting on new “cut” scores that will determine whether a student taking state tests in math and English language arts are proficient for their grade level. Student scores are broken into four levels: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4. Students in Levels 3 and 4 are considered proficient and on track to by college or career ready by the end of 12th grade.

“The hardest thing, I think about cut scores is we think about a proficient student, a passing student, and it’s this broad thing,” said Marienne Perie, Board of Regents Technical Advisory Committee co-chair. “The focus on standard setting is I want that person who’s right on the edge. We picture the students line up for graduation in their order of ability. And who’s that last student in line who still gets their diploma. That’s where the cut score gets set. They’re that person who’s at the end of the line but they’re still good enough.”

Proficiency scores will be lower than in years past, Perie said, because student proficiency dropped so much during the pandemic that schools have to accept a “new normal” when it comes to student test scores. State tests were given in 2019, but not in 2020 because schools were closed before the state could give them. In 2021 roughly half of the state’s students took the tests before testing returned to normal in 2022. Those tests — as well as the National Assessment of Educational Progress results — showed large decreases in proficiency. A simple average of Chautauqua County proficiency rates shows an increase in English language arts proficiency from 39.6% in 2018-19 to 40.83% in 2021-22. Math proficiency decreased from 44.67% to 34%, a decrease of 10.67%. Local data is in line with results of the 2021 National Assessment of Educational Progress test results.

“So for New York, we’re saying the new baseline is 2022,” Perie said. “So yes, there’s learning loss between 2019 and 2022 but in some ways we don’t want to keep going backwards. We’re at this new normal. Right now we’re setting new cut scores for 2023. This is the baseline moving forward. Now, we’re watching the kids and saying how do we get you to move forward and we’re relying especially on kids straight out of high school. We’re relying on colleges. We’re relying on employers saying what’s missing? I mean, there are these graduating classes of kids that missed two years of school. Basically, what are we missing? What do we need? And then let’s work it backwards to figure out how to get our kids caught up.”

National math scores saw their largest decreases ever, and reading scores fell back to 1992 levels. This year was the first time the test was given since 2019, and it’s seen as the first nationally representative study of the pandemic’s impact on learning. Nearly four in 10 eighth graders failed to grasp basic math concepts. Not a single state saw a notable improvement in their average test scores, with some simply treading water at best.

An Empire Center analysis of the NAEP data found New York fourth-graders’ scores decreased 10 points from 2019 to 2022, a number surpassed only by Delaware, Virginia, and Washington DC and tied by Maryland and New Mexico. Psychometricians assert that 10 points is roughly equivalent to one year of learning. The six-point drop in eighth grade math is closer to the national norm of 8 points. According to NAEP standards, equal proportions of the state’s fourth and eighth graders — 28 percent — are proficient in math.

“How are we accommodating the learning loss without compromising the actual standards that we have?” Regent Susan Mittler asked.

Dealing with learning loss was also a concern of Regent Katherine Cashin, who asked in particular about the NAEP scores and what could have been differently during the pandemic to help students learn better.

“I was really interested in particular about the NAEP scores plummeting. and can we deduce from that what strategies were not employed or should have been employed more or maybe the mayhem of learning over the computer as opposed to in person,” Cashin said. “Why do you think we plummeted really, and we did, and what strategies, was it the mayhem of COVID, the pandemic, the lack of consistency in pedagogic strategies and maybe the connection with the teacher? Was it an inability to manipulate the computer properly so we can have good learning? What do you think caused this and what do you think we need to do ASAP to start recitfying it?”

Perry’s response was, basically, everything. She suggested the Regents begin developing curriculum that can be given online in case schools are shut down again. She noted the larger learning losses in math than English and the need to focus on additional math instruction to help children catch up and, finally the need for more tutoring.

Earlier this month state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli noted New York was allocated over $15 billion in emergency education aid during the pandemic from the federal government, with $14 billion from three rounds of the Elementary and Secondary School Relief Fund (ESSER) assistance. Aid must be spent by September 2024, but DiNapoli found only 40% has been spent as of mid-March. DiNapoli urged the State Education Department to provide school districts with guidance on best practices for spending of funds and encouraged school districts to ensure funds are being used for evidence-based practices for students most in need.

“We’ve done some research looking at some of the tutoring programs and I will say tutoring done well is one of the best pieces,” Perie said. “Additional instruction done well — but there are a lot of people out there throwing tutoring and summer camps at you that are not going to raise the bar and that becomes difficult.”