State Releases Official 2009-10 District Report Cards

The 2009-10 New York State District Report Cards were released today by the State Education Department.  The results show that the Rye City school students continue to perform at the highest levels in the state.

Last summer and fall, the Administration presented information about student performance on these and other 2009-2010 assessments.  The State assessment scores were discussed, along with the important - and very late - change the State Education Department made in the way it measures "proficiency."   At that time, the SED and Board of Regents had announced that cut-off scores for "proficiency" had been raised to reflect new standards for "college ready" performance.   

"Under the new standard, Rye City students still performed very well, with 85% meeting or exceeding 'proficiency' and raw scores remaining in the highest percentiles.  That said, with higher cut-off scores, all schools in New York must redouble their efforts to ensure that all students are ready for college," said Dr. Edward J. Shine, Superintendent of Schools.  "For our District, this change means that about 15% of our students need more targeted instruction because they did not meet the new proficiency standard."

Among the 15% are four groups of students: a small group of general education students, a somewhat larger group of students receiving Academic Intervention Services (AIS), a group of English language learners (ELL) and students identified with learning difficulties who require an Individualized Education Plan.

To address the needs of the first three groups, the District has implemented new instructional interventions in the general education classroom setting to support mastery of the ten strands of math and the ELA curriculum.  Using new "Response to Intervention" protocols the District is becomingmore effective in delivering AIS services, and is continually examining what it must do to support an ELL population that is expected to be comfortable reading and writing in English after just one year of residence in the U.S.

"As for the fourth group," said Dr. Shine, "the CSE process is highly regulated, with annual individualized assessments.  Our efforts with CSE students have shown that, by high school, 79% met the currentproficiency standard on the June 2010 math and ELA Regents."  Significantly, current discussions about The Regents Reform Agenda consider alternate paths to earning a high school diploma.

"Our teachers are focused on delivering outstanding instruction to all of our students, no matter what their strengths or challenges," said Dr. Shine.  "As a District, we will continue to work to ensure that each student reaches his/her full potential."