Standardized Test Scores Stir Cries to Overhaul Sch ools (NY)

August 9, 2010

Since New York spends more per pupil than any state in the nation one would think that its standardized test scores would be tops too.

But that is not the case.

New York students score in the middle of the pack or below when their state test scores are compared with the 49 other states. This disparity between dollars spent and test results is due to a number of factors, local educators and school district residents say.

Some say charts depicting national rankings of student achievements don’t necessarily reflect the quality of education that elementary and secondary students in New York are receiving.

"There’s so many factors that come into play here in trying to make a correlation between student achievement and cost per pupil," Wappingers school district Superintendent James Parla said.

"I think the measurements that compare to other states are things we have to look at very carefully," said Kelly Lappan, president of the Arlington school board and Dutchess County School Boards Association. "The reality is a lot more complex than what these statistics appear to say."

But others take the gap between spending and classroom performance in New York at face value, saying it should signal an alarm.

"We need to admit that the educational system is not working," said Jonathan Drapkin, president and chief executive officer of Pattern for Progress, a mid-Hudson nonprofit public policy research and planning institute. "While we are spending extravagantly, our students are not excelling. It is time to get creative."
Comparing states

New York state spent an average $17,182 per pupil in public elementary and secondary schools in the 2006-07 school year, according to the most recent data compiled by the U.S. Department of Education. This places New York tops in the nation — just above New Jersey at $16,650 and Rhode Island at $14,674. The national average that year was $10,377 per pupil.

The District of Columbia actually spent the most per pupil that year with a $19,861 average. The lowest-spending state was Utah at $6,116 per student.

Some say the fact that the cost of living in New York is higher than most areas of the country contributes to the amount of money spent on education. Three of the boroughs in New York City, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, rank in the top five of the 322 urban areas of the country with the highest cost of living, compiled by the American Chamber of Commerce Research Association. No. 1-rated Manhattan has a cost of living index of 217.2 — more than twice the national average.

"Obviously, the teachers have very high salaries, but New York is a very high cost-of-living state," said Christopher Carlucci of Beekman and father of a seventh-grader at Union Vale Middle School in the Arlington school district.

Yet neighboring states such as Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey, which are among the tops in spending, consistently finish in the top five in the nation in standardized test results. All three states finished in the top five in 2007 eighth-grade writing and 2009 fourth- and eighth-grade reading.

Massachusetts also was among the top five in 2009 eighth-grade math, fourth-grade writing and 2009 fourth-grade math. New Jersey was also in the top five in 2009 fourth- and eighth-grade math. Connecticut was No. 1 in the nation in 2002 fourth-grade writing.

In contrast, using the same batch of test results, New York places 25th, 26th and as low as 32nd — twice — in the national rankings.
New York is different

Among the reasons given for this disparity is the possibility that New York’s standardized tests are more different than other states and possibly more difficult than some.

Poughkeepsie City School District Superintendent Laval Wilson said he knows for a fact there is a big difference between the standardized tests in New York and those in New Jersey, having previously overseen the administration of two school districts in New Jersey.

"It’s not the same exam," Wilson said. "There are different standards for passing. The state tests that are used in New Jersey are all so different."

However competitive New York’s standardized tests were in the past, the bar is being raised.

Last month, New York Commissioner of Education David Steiner pointed out the need to stiffen the requirements for scoring a passing grade on the state exams.

This initiative, supported by the Board of Regents, was based on the recent finding that too many New York students were unprepared for college-level work. Nearly a quarter of first-time students in New York colleges require remedial courses, according the the state Education Department.

"It’s clear from our review that some students who scored proficient on state exams found themselves unprepared, without remedi ation, to do the work required of them when they reached college," Steiner said in a statement July 19.

Some say this raising of the bar is but one reflection of the high standards New York expects of its students. The mandates imposed by Albany on school districts exceed those required in many other parts of the country, said Bob Maier, president of the Arlington Teachers Association.

Unlike New York, not all states require all high school seniors to graduate with a Regents diploma, all teachers to hold a master’s degree and that teenagers stay in school until they are at least 16 years old, he said.

In the area of special education, New York’s standards exceed those of the federal government. This accounts for much of the added costs, because students with with learning disabilities and other special needs required added staffing and, in some cases, daily transportation to special schools.

"New York state has special-education regulations and requirements that far exceed federal regulations in that regard," said Rhinebeck school district Superintendent Joseph Phelan. "I’m not saying that’s good or bad; it’s just a fact."

Another factor contributing to New York’s sagging test scores, when compared to other states, is the large population of students in urban school districts. According to the New York state Education Department, of the 2,691,267 students in the state’s public schools, 44.8 percent are in the "Big Five" city school districts of Buffalo, New York, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers.

"Graduation rates in urban districts tend to be lower than suburban ones," Phelan said. "The challenges that need to be met in those communi ties are significant."

Outlays not on kids

The money spent on education in New York has not always gone to directly to improving the education — and test scores — of its students. Webutuck school board President Dale Culver said the implementation of the School Tax Assessment Relief, or STAR, program by Albany in the 1990s provided homeowners with welcome tax relief. Because the tax rebate took lifted the burden on homeowners, too many school districts, he said, used STAR as "a blank check" to win voter approval for expensive building projects that have not always benefited the students academically.

Webutuck voters in 2007 approved a $20.7 million capital project to replace classrooms at the high school and add new laboratory space and athletic fields.

"I really believe that school boards, superintendents and school districts, in general, took that as a license to spend money," Culver said of STAR.

Some say the Wicks law in New York state, meant to promote competition and protect workers’ rights, makes school construction projects more expensive than necessary. For projects costing more than $500,000 school districts are required to hire four separate contractors for plumbing, electric, heating and general contracting.

"It’s like a huge unfunded mandate," Lappan said.

The impact of the recession has made funding education particularly challenging this coming school year. Albany slashed education aid to public schools across the state by $1.1 billion. This loss of aid to local districts translated to increases in tax levies and contributed to the defeat of three budgets in May.

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In cutting spending to get revised budgets passed in June, both Poughkeepsie and Arlington decided to close elementary schools, which requires shifting students.

With the burden of funding public education weighing more heavily on property owners, some say now is the time to reform the system. Among measures suggested by locals are cutting administrative costs and linking teachers’ pay and job security to how well students perform on standardized tests.

"When salaries are still based on seniority, there’s no impetus to go the extra mile unless their own inner clock tells them to," Culver said.

Drapkin of Pattern for Progress said, "The time has passed for automatic tenure that makes it virtually impossible to fire underperforming employees. … We need to expand the school year and days taught — we are among the lowest-performing countries among the stronger economies in the world."