STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT UNVEILS NEW SYSTEM
TO TRACK AND REPORT STUDENT DATA,
SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE NEW TOOLS TO IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
The State Education Department announced today the details of a groundbreaking data collection and reporting system that will give schools, teachers, and parents new tools to improve student achievement while enhancing public accountability.
Beginning this fall, test results will be delivered directly to schools in an electronic format, giving authorized school administrators and teachers instant access to data regarding individual student performance, performance by groups of students (including breakdowns by race, ethnicity, disability status, gender, English proficiency, economic status, and migrant status), and overall performance by school and school district.
This electronic system will give schools interactive reports on all this information.
Parents will receive more detailed printed reports explaining their children’s performance on the tests. The reports will not only give the overall score but will also give a more detailed breakdown of a student’s performance on several indicators of achievement.
All individual student information will be protected during every phase of data collection and reporting.
This year, all students in grades 3-8 were tested in English and Math for the first time. Previously, they were tested in English and Math in fourth and eighth grade only. The results of those grade 3-8 tests will be the first to be released using the new reporting system. Results of the English test will be delivered to schools in mid-September and the Math results will be delivered to them at the end of September. Results will be made publicly available one week after the schools receive the data and have the opportunity to review it.
State Education Commissioner Richard Mills said, “These tools give parents and teachers new and better ways to pinpoint academic problems and improve student performance. The system is an integral part of the Regents strategy to close the gaps and lift the achievement of all students.”
These unique tools have been developed by the State Education Department, in a contract with the GROW Network, a subsidiary of CTB-McGraw Hill, and with the Erie I BOCES. More than 100 New York State teachers and parents helped develop the system.