ICYMI: State Releases West Islip School District Report Card

In case you missed it, here's a story that appeared earlier this week in West Islip Patch:

The New York State Department of Education has released the results of the 2016 ELA and math exams for grades 3-8, and students in West Islip improved their scores on both.

Statewide, the percentage of students scoring "proficient" on the exams (scoring a 3 or 4, instead of a 1 or 2) also increased. Students proficient in ELA went up from 31.3 percent to 37.9. In math, the percentage of proficient students went from 38.1 to 39.1.

The State Education Department made several changes to the 2016 ELA and math exams through a deliberate process. These changes included contracting a new test vendor with a requirement of greater teacher involvement, reducing the number of questions on every grade 3-8 ELA and math assessments and allowing students who are productively working to complete their exams.

In addition, more test questions were released than ever before and earlier than ever before to support instruction. Further, when parents receive their child’s school reports later this summer, they will see that they are easier to understand and provide more information on how their child performed.

West Islip students placed above the state average for the percentage of students scoring proficient, while increasing their scores. In ELA, the district went from 36 percent proficiency in 2014/15 to 45 percent in 2015/16. Math went down from 49 percent to 53 percent.

For the complete West Islip school report card, click here.