District Prepping Plan to Boost State Test Results

The Babylon School District is readying a proposal on ways the district can improve standardized testing scores in light of “unacceptable” test results.

During Monday night’s board of education work session meeting Assistant Superintended Daniel D'Amico provided a follow-up presentation on state testing results and addressed the changes in standards for ELA and math tests. Those changes, as officials noted at the previous board of education meeting, were a main reason that district students did not meet expected proficiency levels.

"Right now our scores are not acceptable," D’Amico said. "We need to embrace this challenge and get students excited about doing better and get the community involved."

Although many schools across Long Island are affected by the changes in scoring by the state two years ago, Babylon has experienced a continuing drop in test scores.

"We didn't rebound as well as other schools [cohort districts with comparable income, demographics, or region],” D’Amico told the board members. “We have not historically been a school that has emphasized test preparation."

D'Amico provided statistics on students who landed just below the cutoff for proficiency scores. In some cases a significant percentage of grade levels would have achieved a "pass" score with just one to three more correct answers. D'Amico said he believed this improvement is attainable and realistic.

Yet the number of Babylon students who scored a 4 on the exams, which is the top mastery level, was 2 percent to 5 percent lower than comparable districts.

The next board meeting will be Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the high school library. District officials expect to present a New York State assessment report on high school indicators, such as Regents, SAT/ACT scores, and data on college and degree types acquired by graduated students.