Has there been improvement in the skills of students in New York City Public Schools over the past ten years? If standardized reading and math tests are the instrument to measure that answer, then no one knows. This is because the Board of Education has changed the exams that are used several times during the past few years, which makes making a comparison difficult, according to the New York Daily News. Gary Natriello, Professor of Sociology and Education, explains that standardized tests ought to be a guide for school administrators. "You see very little evidence of that going on," he said.

Part of the reason for changing companies is due to prior mistakes that companies have made in scoring. One such mistake caused 9,000 students to be sent to summer school by mistake. Still, Natriello says "for all the years of testing we've had, it's hard to say that they've driven the system to massive improvements."

The article, entitled "Hard to Tell if City is Scoring With Tests" appeared in the 6-20-01 edition of the New York Daily News.

When possible, the News Bureau provides a link to article summaries, a link is always provided to the online source. Not all online sources archive information and some charge a fee for older material.

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001