.png)
PROTESTING PARENTS: Members of Coalition for Educational Justice gathered in front of a division of the Department of Education in the Bronx to call for tutoring and other academic aid for students eager to raise their educational levels. (Tara MacIsaac/The Epoch Times)
NEW YORK—Parents with NYC Coalition for Educational Justice (NYCCEJ) stood in the windy cold, shivering and chattering in front of a division of the Department of Education (DOE) in the Bronx Monday morning.
Concern for their children helped them face the elements as they called for an emergency educational action plan to address the dramatically decreased test scores in math and English of third- to eighth-grade students. After state testing was recalibrated in July, citywide reading scores declined 27 percentage points and math scores dropped 28 percentage points.
NYCCEJ parents agree that the recalibration helped reflect the students’ levels more accurately, but the next step is to help students raise their levels—something they say has not been achieved.
“We knew before [that] the tests were watered down and kids had to know less and less,” said Ronnette Summers, mother and aunt.
“There were some schools that were teaching to the test. [We’re calling for] less test prep, more college prep,” stated Summers.
Parents also voiced their concern that the level system used by the DOE is not working the way it should.
“Only [level] one students get help,” said Minerva Morales, whose son dropped from a level three/four to a level two/three after recalibrated testing. He is so eager to learn and raise his level back up to where he thought it was, that he has asked his teacher to stay an extra 15 minutes with him after class to work on math.
Level one students are described by the DOE as not meeting learning standards, level two as partially meeting learning standards, level three as meeting learning standards, and level four as meeting learning standards with distinction.
NYCCEJ calls for Academic Intervention Services (AIS) for all students who want or need help boosting their scores, not just level one students.
Matthew Mittenthal of the NYC DOE said AIS is in place for all level one students. Low level two and level three students are also eligible for help, but that is left to the discretion of the principal.
“That is a conversation we are trying to have with principals,” said Mittenthal. No standard for all the city’s schools exists, as each school’s situation is different, noted Mittenthal.
The DOE will be investigating the implementation of AIS in light of NYCCEJ’s concerns, which Mittenthal says the group has ample opportunity to address in meetings they often attend with the DOE.
