New York City schools faced stark drops in math in the first release of state test scores since the COVID-19 pandemic, while reading scores remained steady. Results from the city Education Department released on Wednesday showed a 1.6 percentage point rise in English language arts proficiency and a 7.6 point drop in math competency between 2019 and 2022, with just 38 percent of kids in grades 3-8 being proficient in the subject last year, according to data collected from third through eighth grade exam scores.
About 46 percent of students were math proficient before the pandemic and the last time the exams were given to most of the city’s schoolchildren. First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg said in a statement that the results are “complicated by the pandemic,” noting how much of an impact it particularly had on minority students.
“While results are complicated by the pandemic, the results reflect hard work by our students, families and educators during a difficult time,” Weisberg said. “They also reflect opportunity gaps and outcomes in particular for Black and Hispanic students as well as students with disabilities and English-language learners that are unacceptable.”