New York Math and English Proficiency Scores Are Out

Standardized test scores are lower across New York state than in past years under the new standards implemented over the past year. Scores on tests that New York's third-through-eighth-graders took last spring were released yesterday.

Statewide, 31 percent of students met or exceeded the math and English proficiency standards. Last year, 55 percent of students were considered proficient in English and 65 percent in math.

Where past tests were a gage of student performance alone, the new tests under ‘No Child Left Behind’ also are being used to rank the teaching effectiveness of teachers and principals.