Why report cards? What is our objective?

NYCAN’s School Report Cards are designed to help families in New York access online information about their local schools so that they can serve as effective advocates for kids. The report cards are also designed to create transparency and awareness about how our public schools perform. We believe that residents in New York deserve to know how well our public schools are meeting the needs of every student based on the state’s annual assessment.

While we recognize that annual assessments do not tell the entire story of a school, they are the only consistent data available across schools and, therefore, the only data that can be used to compare performance.

Going forward, we will work to consider incorporating additional measures of performance on the report cards.

This is the pilot year for NYCAN’s School Report Cards, so we are not assigning letter grades. Starting in 2013, we will assign letter grades to every public school in New York. We plan to use this year to test and refine our methodology. We welcome feedback from all members of our community. Please send your comments to Christina.grant@nycan.org.

What information do the report cards include?

-Name
-District
-Address
-School level (elementary, middle or high school)
-Type of school
-Grade range (e.g., K-12, K-6, 6-8, 9-12)
-Total student enrollment
-Percent minority
-Percent low-income
-Performance indicators

*PLEASE NOTE: The report cards currently only include overall performance and will be updated with additional indicators to show the performance of subgroups such as low-income students in the near future to help New Yorkers understand the achievement gaps within their school systems. Also note that enrollment data is from 2008-9 and all other demographic data is from 2009-10.

About New York student achievement data

Each year, New York administers the New York State Assessments to test students in grades three through eight in English language arts and math and in grades four and eight in science.

High school students take subject-specific Regents examinations. Students must pass at least five tests in the following subject areas in order to graduate: English, mathematics, global history and geography, US history and government, and science.

New York State Assessment results show the level of proficiency a student demonstrates in each of the subject areas tested. Students receive a score of level one through level four. Students that score a three or higher meet or exceed the proficiency standard.

The Regents examinations are scored on a 100-point scale. Scores of 65 and above are passing; scores of 55 and above earn credit toward a local diploma (with the approval of the local board of education). Students can also receive a Regents diploma with Advanced Designation by passing eight Regents examinations with a score of 65 or above.

Note: the report cards currently do not include results from the Regents examinations.

How do the report cards show student achievement?

NYCAN’s report cards provide a single score to help readers compare schools and subgroups within those schools. To do so, we calculate a school’s “at or above proficiency” score according to state standards by taking the average percentage of students at or above proficiency across math and reading areas on the New York State Assessment. We calculate this rating by taking the scores from the highest grade level tested in each school. For elementary schools, we use the results from the fifth grade test (with fourth-grade results used when an elementary school does not have a fifth grade and sixth-grade results used when an elementary school goes through that level). For middle schools we use results from the eighth-grade test (with seventh-grade results used when a middle school doesn’t have an eighth grade). These scores provide a straightforward, easy-to-use yardstick on how well schools, on average, meet the needs of students across key subject areas.

For schools that serve grade levels that span across elementary and middle schools, such as a K-8 school, we report achievement results for students at both levels (five and eight, for example).

Example of calculating student achievement for a K-8 school:

John Doe School (K-8)

To calculate overall proficiency at the elementary school level, we take the average of the math and reading scores on the New York State Assessment for the 5th grade level in that school.

80 percent of fifth-grade students are at or above proficiency in reading

70 percent of fifth-grade students are at or proficiency in math

Overall school performance for John Doe Elementary = 75 percent

John Doe School (grades K-8)

To calculate overall proficiency at the middle school level, we take the average of the math and reading scores on the New York State Assessment for the 8th grade level in that school.

70 percent of eighth-grade students are at or above proficiency in reading

50 percent of eighth-grade students are at or above proficiency in math
Overall middle school performance = 60 percent

Coming Soon

NYCAN report cards will soon include student subgroup performance as well as the achievement gap between subgroups.