Poverty and Progress in New York VII: English and Math Proficiency in NYC Schools, 2013-15
The Manhattan Institute’s “Poverty and Progress in New York” series tracks the effects of Mayor de Blasio’s policies on lower-income New Yorkers. This paper, the seventh installment, examines educational progress in English (English Language Arts, or ELA) and in math since 2013—when NYC adopted Common Core testing standards—in the city’s 1,800-plus public schools, which serve 1.1 million students.
- Rising proficiency citywide: during 2013–15, student proficiency on Common Core–aligned ELA and math exams improved, on average, by about 4 percentage points and 6 percentage points, respectively, in NYC’s 32 public school districts.
- Growing ELA-proficiency gap: in 2015, 15 percent of students in NYC’s poorest school districts—defined as districts with 95 percent or more of students eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch (“FRL share”)—were, on average, proficient in ELA, compared with 12 percent in 2013; in NYC’s wealthiest school districts (FRL share of 55 percent or less), the figures were 54 percent (2015) and 49 percent (2013).
- Growing math-proficiency gap: in 2015, 17 percent of students in NYC’s poorest school districts were proficient in math, compared with 13 percent in 2013; in NYC’s wealthiest school districts, the figures were 61 percent (2015) and 54 percent (2013).
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