If Test Scores Go Up Did Education Improve?

On Friday afternoon July 29, 2016, New York State released the results of student test scores on Common Core aligned standardized tests administered last spring. If you missed the announcement, that's probably why scores were released on a Friday afternoon the day the Presidential campaign went into full swing. The New York Times reported on the release in Saturday's paper on page 18.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is facing a tough reelection battle in 2017 was ecstatic with the test results. The percentage of New York City students who passed state English exams was up by nearly eight percentage points to almost 38 percent passing. For the first time this matched the overall state passing average. According to de Blasio, "These results represent important progress and outline real improvements across each borough of our city. We congratulate our students, families and devoted educators for this critical step forward."

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