Only four school districts in Chautauqua County had higher student proficiency rates on English language arts than the state average in last spring’s third through eighth grade testing.

The results are a little better for math, with more students in nine area districts achieving higher proficiency rates than the state average.

The district with the highest proficiency rates on English language arts tests was Forestville, where 52% of students were deemed proficient, followed by Panama and Chautauqua Lake at 51% and Southwestern at 49%. Statewide, 48% of students were proficient in English language arts on this year’s testing. Randolph saw 47% of its students reach proficiency while 46% of Bemus Point’s students were deemed proficient. According to Molly Moore, Southwestern Central School director of instructional services, 37.6% of Chautauqua County students were proficient in English language arts this year.

Math results were better for area districts when compared to the statewide proficiency of 52% for third through eighth grade students. Panama led the way with 62% of its students achieving proficiency, followed by Frewsburg (55%) Forestville, Bemus Point, Sherman and Silver Creek (all at 54%), Clymer and Randolph (52%) with Westfield Academy and Central School at 51%. Only 29.6% of Chautauqua County students were proficient in math, according to Moore.

BACKGROUND ON THIS YEAR’S TESTS

The 2022-23 tests are the first to judge proficiency using the state’s Next Generation Learning Standards. As such, the state cautions against making comparisons with proficiency levels in past years – a blanket statement given the changes that have taken place in education over the past several years, including the COVID-19 pandemic’s closure of schools during the testing period in 2020 and limited testing in 2021.

Results were released quietly by the state Education Department shortly before schools began their holiday breaks. State Education Department officials told school districts back in June that the results would be delayed until the fall, but fall came and went with no information released. Typically, when the test scores are released, the state Education Department puts together a package of information showing how the state has fared in closing learning gaps amongst various groups of students taking the tests and detailing how the state fared overall. There was no such package this year.

As is the case in prior years, student scores are broken into four categories. Students whose scores fall into Level 1 are considered well below proficient in standards for their grade while students whose scores fall into Level 2 are considered partially proficient in standards for their grade. Students whose test scores fall into Level 3 are proficient in standards for their grade while Level 4 students excel in standards for their grade. A student deemed proficient, then, includes all students in levels 3-4.

Proficiency scores will be lower than in years past, said Marienne Perie, Board of Regents Technical Advisory Committee co-chair, during a Board of Regents meeting earlier this year.

Student proficiency dropped so much during the pandemic that schools have to accept a “new normal” when it comes to student test scores, she said. 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.”

HOW THE TESTS ARE USED

State and federal law requires testing for third- through eighth-grade students each year. Student proficiency rates are used to determine if schools are meeting state standards, but have little in-classroom use by teachers because results are received too late to influence classroom instruction. School districts choose their own assessment methods to influence how teachers work with children in areas where they need additional help or to challenge them in areas where they excel.