Oure Diocesan Schools Are Making the Grade

Fourth- and eighth-grade students in Brooklyn and Queens Catholic elementary schools met the state’s learning standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics at a higher percentage this year than last in tests administered last spring by the New York State Education Department.

The test scores showed that the percentages achieved by the local Catholic school students who are meeting the learning standards outpaced those recorded by schools across the state and in the city as depicted in the chart below.

In the 2006 to 2007 comparison for the Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn, 63.9% of eighth- graders met the learning standards in English Language Arts, a jump of 4%, and 60.2% did so in Math, a 4.9% increase.

Statewide results reported by the State Education Department showed that 57.1% of eighth-grade students met the English Language Arts standards, and 58.8% did so in Math. In the city, the percentages were 41.8% in English Language Arts and 45.6% in Math.

Among fourth-graders, 72.5% of diocesan students met the English Language Arts standards, an increase of about 1%, and in Math it was 80.2%, a 1.9% jump. The state percentages were 68% and 80%, respectively and in the city 56% and 74.1%.

The percentage of Catholic elementary school youngsters in the Diocese of Brooklyn who do not meet the English Language Arts learning standards dropped from 3.5% to 1.4% for eighth- grade students and from 5.2% to 3.7% among fourth-graders. In Math, there was also a decline in the percentage of students showing serious academic problems from 7% to 6.1% among eighth- graders and 4.6% to 3.8% among fourth- graders.

Students took the English Language Arts tests in January and the Math assessments in March. The New York State Education Department released its English Language Arts figures in May and the Math results in June. The analysis by the Catholic School Support Services Office was completed in August under the direction of Diane Phelan, associate superintendent for instruction, planning and evaluation of programs and students.

2007 NYS ELA and Math Test Results
Grades 4 and 8
Comparative Chart

Percentage of Students Scoring at Levels 3 and 4

(Meeting NYS Standards):

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