Most, but not all, Poughkeepsie City School District Schools and individual grade levels improved in math on their grades 3-8 state Education Department proficiency assessments last year, as compared to 2022-23. The improvement in many cases outpaced the state average. Eighth grade students who took the Algebra I Regents exam a year ago also topped the state average with 23 of 27 passing.

However, most, but not all, schools and grade levels regressed in their ELA scores. And, overall proficiency in both ELA and math remained under 25% for most district schools last year.

As it moves forward in its mission of elevating student achievement, the district is using the assessments as a benchmark for the trajectory of student success rates, though other data, including I-Ready evaluations, Regents testing results and attendance figures all play a role.

That was among the messages from district leadership as it presented the 3-8 state proficiency assessment data to the Board of Education at a workshop meeting Wednesday. While the data released by the state last week was the purpose of the presentation, its limitations as a snapshot of progress a half-year ago that does not include students who opted out of taking the tests was also discussed, as was the availability of the more recent I-Ready evaluations.

The presentation is available through the Board of Education webpage. The raw results are also online, on the district’s Data, Assessment and Accountability webpage.

At the outset of the presentation, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Eric Jay Rosser made clear, “this is not a presentation that is a celebration of district standing when it comes to the number of students who are proficient. We have a lot of work to do. We made some positive gains and we’ve also had some regressions.” Lisa Spencer-Perry, Executive Director of Data, Assessment and Accountability, explained the presentation was framed largely by year-over-year improvement more so than simply results, which is encouraged by New York’s Every Student Succeeds Act to highlight learning.

In 2023-24, 24% of district students in grades 3-8 assessed were proficient in math and 23% were proficient in ELA. Across the state, 54% were proficient in math and 46% in ELA.

When looking at growth, though, Poughkeepsie students assessed improved by 5 percentage points in math, from 19% to 24%, year-over-year, compared to 2 percentage points statewide. Poughkeepsie proficiency decreased in ELA by 4 percentage points, compared to a 2 percentage-point decrease statewide.

Among the highlights:

• Districtwide math proficiency increased for each grade level 3-7.
• Districtwide ELA proficiency increased for grades 3 and 6.
• Math proficiency at Poughkeepsie Middle School improved by 5 percentage points to 16%.
• Warring Elementary’s math proficiency jumped from 27% to 47%, and its ELA proficiency increased from 32% to 34%.
• The math proficiency grew at Clinton Elementary by 13 and 16 percentage points, respectively, for fourth and fifth graders.

However, there were also glaring areas in need of improvement, such as the grade 8 ELA proficiency dropping by 14 percentage points when the statewide proficiency decreased by 3 percentage points.

“For our district, the data tells the story. When we look at this information the question that comes to mind: ‘Why is it that we, as a district, had (11 percentage points of year-over-year change) below what the state had?’” Spencer-Perry said. “It helps us to start supporting our analysis, which is on the way at the schools.”

Spencer-Perry listed off several areas of focus to create improvement, including among others increasing student participation rate in the assessments, increasing the focus on comprehensive literacy instruction, expanding professional learning opportunities for staff, increasing student readiness for testing in a computer-based testing environment and emphasizing the relationship between daily student attendance and achievement.

In receiving the data, members of the school board engaged district leadership in discussion around focusing remediation efforts to target specific needs at specific schools and grades; how professional development is executed; how school leadership is being supported by district administration; and how I-Ready assessment data is being used in schools.

Poughkeepsie Middle School Interim Principal Felicia Schinella shared how Director of Elementary Education Janet Bisti and Director of Teaching and Learning Patrice Woods visited the school to train building leadership in diving into the I-Ready platform. The system is relatively new to the building after extensive and promising integration at the elementary levels.

“Now that we have this data, what do we do with it?” Schinella said rhetorically in responding to the school board. “It’s not going to become shelf art and it’s not some guessing game. They actually sat with (building leadership) and trained them on how to access the platform, how to pull the student information and then how to walk through it and look at the grouping. Everything is in the I-Ready platform so it’s not reinventing the wheel.”

Student attendance and making sure all district teachers have the professional learning they need are the top two factors that can lead to improved scores, Rosser said at the meeting.

Dr. Iris Goliger, executive director of students with exceptionalities, praised the breadth of data currently available to the district, and the teamwork among district and building administration, as signs thatpositive change is coming.

“What I have seen happening more than ever before in the years that I’ve been in the district is the use of multiple points of data, not just this assessment data and the deep dive here, but our universal assessments, our I-Ready data and teams of teachers using their (group discussion and learning sessions) to really dive into that and understand their learners and how to plan using those results,” Goliger said. “It’s happening. It’s really happening. I think the growth that we’re seeing is because it’s started and as it continues to happen and continues to be done with greater fidelity across the district in the days to come, we’re going to see more growth.”