Data Disk Issued in 2007-2008 for the Data of 2006-2007:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & TABLE OF CONTENTS

A 001 DISCOVER The Evolving Structure of the NYS & NPS Data Initiatives (pdf)

This file presents reminders on the philosophy (improve instruction and learning and promote a culture of inquiry among everyone in our learning community), the model (use data to inform decisions on several levels of inquiry) and the structure (3-tiered local/state warehouse) of the Instructional Data Department. This year’s file is dedicated almost exclusively to the details of the Nyack District Warehouse.

This file compares aggregate and subgroup NCLB Performance Indices (PIs) from 2005-2006 to 2006-2007.

GOOD NEWS – ALL buildings and the district made AYP last year in each of the two subject areas. The Middle School’s special education subgroup, which, last year, made AYP in ELA only with Safe Harbor, raised its PI from 105 to 131, a total of 26 percentage points. Valley Cottage increased its PIs significantly, in the aggregate and within each of the subgroups in both ELA and math.  Upper Nyack has made some modest gains and also incurred some modest decreases in the last year (exception: a large decrease in the PI for its “economically disadvantaged” subgroup). The Middle School has increased the majority of its PIs in both areas (except for the Latino subgroup in math), some to a large extent (the MS’s Black students PI was increased from 122 to 155 in math). The High School and the district have, on average, maintained their PIs. The exception here is the “Economically Disadvantaged” subgroup, which saw a decrease in its PI of 15 points in both ELA and math.

CHALLENGES – In ELA, Liberty made AYP in the “Special Education” subgroup only by Safe Harbor. Also in ELA, Liberty’s Latino subgroup (this last year over 30 students), showed only an 8-point difference between its PI and its Effective AMO. Continuing in ELA, Liberty’s “Economically Disadvantaged” subgroup showed only a 3-point difference between its PI and Effective AMO. In ELA, the district continues to barely make AYP in the special education subgroup (difference of 2 points between the PI and the Effective AMO in 2005-2006, difference of 7 points between the PI and the Effective AMO in 2006-2007). The district made AYP only by a 2-point margin in 2006-2007 within the ELL subgroup only because former ELL students’ test scores were included in the calculation.

This file shows aggregate summary score distributions (Levels 1 – 4) for Grades 3-8 individually, and clusters of aggregate score distributions (Grades 3 – 5 and Grades 6 – 8 and 3 – 8) by building and district-wide. Only the subgroups appearing on the Accountability Status Reports are summarized.

Summary for clustered aggregate score distributions (Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8 and Grades 3-8):
GOOD NEWS – VC increased the % of its students at Levels 3 and 4 by 2.73% (82.61% to 85.34%) in ELA, and by 11.43% (81.28% to 92.71%) in math. The MS increased the percentage of its students at Levels 3 and 4 by 1.47% (75.17% to 76.64%) in ELA, and has (almost) maintained its % of students at Levels 3 and 4 in math (slight drop of 0.48% - from 66.45% in 2005-2006 to 65.97% in 2006-2007).

CHALLENGES – UN saw a decrease in the % of students at Levels 3 and 4 in both ELA and math (87.21% to 79.90% in ELA – a drop of 7.31%* and 85.11% to 83.84% in math – a drop of 1.27%). LIB also saw a decrease in the % of students at Levels 3 and 4 in both ELA and math (82.70% to 71.37% in ELA – a drop of 11.33%**, and 85.82% to 82.55% in math – a drop of 3.27%). These drops at UN and LIB can be explained, and are due, in part, to 2006-2007 being the first year of ELA testing for all ELL students who have been in the US for more than 1 year. Please keep in mind also that the majority of our elementary school ELL and special education children are at Liberty. The ELL students live in the Liberty catchment area; the district chose to place most of our special education students there in their best interest. (*There are 12 ELL students and 12 special education students [24] at UN in this grade range, 20 [83.33%] of whom scored at Levels 1 and 2 [as opposed to 17 at VC, 100% of whom scored at Levels 2 and 3].) (**There are 14 ELL students and 31 special education students [45] at LIB in this grade range, 36 [80%] of whom scored at Levels 1 and 2!)
The district as a whole saw a slight drop in ELA: from 79.24% to 77.40% (a drop of 1.84%) but increased in math, from 75.18% to 75.98% (0.8%).

GOOD NEWS: Our Black students registered gains in Level 4 performance in Comprehensive English (8%), Living Environment (3%), Global History/Geography (3%) and French (11%); our Latino students in Comprehensive English (10%), Living Environment (2%), Chemistry (9%) and Spanish (35%).

CHALLENGES: Our Black students are under-represented in Advanced Regents Diploma core courses although some progress has been made in French. (More equitable representations are showing up for Latino students in Math B and Chemistry.)

This file is a 3-year analysis of “percent of students tested” and “percent of students tested scoring at Level 3 or higher” by AP examination.

GOOD NEWS: For “% tested,” over 90% of the enrollees in courses with high enrollment (or the majority of enrollees where the N was low) were tested in all subject areas with almost no exceptions. 

CHALLENGE: Spanish and Art-2D Design register the lowest number of students taking the exam.

GOOD NEWS: For “% scoring 3 or higher,” the following areas have 3 years at 90% or above: Calculus AB and BC. The following areas have 3 years at 80% or above: World History. The following areas have 3 years at 60% or above: English Literature, Calculus AB & BC, World History, Biology (2 years) and Music Theory (2 years).

CHALLENGE: Spanish and Government and Politics register the lowest 3-year summaries.

This is an analysis of last June’s Regents and RCT examinations and the historical file, showing the numbers and percentages of students scoring at Level 2 or higher since at least 2003.

GOOD NEWS: Our students in the aggregate continue to score from 90% to 100% at Levels 2-4 in each exam (exception – Global History and Geography Regents – last year at 83%).

CHALLENGE: Our Black, Latino, special education and low-income students continue to register the lowest percentages at Level 4. (The “new gap” persists.)

TREND: In almost all Regents Exams, our Asian students have begun to register the highest percentages of scores at Level 4.

In 2004-2005, Nyack’s mean critical reading scale score declined by 25 points, dipping below NY State’s and hovering just above the nation’s. In 2005-2006, Nyack rebounded, with a critical reading scale score mean of 515, 22 points above NY State’s and 12 points above the nation’s. Also in 2005-2006, in math, Nyack achieved the highest mean scale score since 1995 (531), 21 points above NY State’s and 13 points above the nation’s. In 2006-2007 Nyack did not maintain those gains; rather, we registered 495 in critical reading (20 points below last year), 507 in math (24 points below last year) and 494 (25 points below last year). There were also decreases statewide and nationally in all 3 areas, although not as steep as those registered by Nyack. We do not see this as trend. Both in critical reading and in math, across the years since 1995, we have presented with a “zigzag” graph, showing continuous gains on average, but irregularly spread out through the years.
The mean scale scores for the NCLB subgroups in the SAT area have not yet been calculated. We have not yet received the score roster from the College Board. We will publish this section of the Data Book, therefore, during the 4^th week of February.

This file compares the numbers and percentages of students receiving each type of diploma across three years. It also compares the NCLB subgroups across three years. Included are NHS and alternate placement students.

GOOD NEWS: In the aggregate, the percentage of students receiving local diplomas has been in a continuous drop since 2004-2005: (22.22%, 16.08%, to 13.73% in 2006-2007). Concomitantly, the percentage of students obtaining Regents or Advanced Regents Diplomas has increased continuously since 2004-2005: (76.92%, 81.91%, to 84.98% in 2006-2007). The percentage of students receiving Advanced Regents Diplomas increased from 2005-2006 to 2006-2007 (from 46.23% in 2005-2006 to 48.93% in 2006-2007). Among the subgroups, all of our ethnic groups have registered a continuous decrease in percentages of local diplomas with a concomitant increase in percentages of Regents diplomas earned.

CHALLENGE:  The “new gap” persists between our Black and Latino graduates on the one hand, and our Asian and White students on the other. Our economically disadvantaged students show relatively high percentages of local diplomas earned. Our ELL and special education show high percentages of local diplomas earned.

TREND: Our Asian students, in the last 2 years, have obtained only Regents or Advanced Regents Diplomas. Our Asian students have also begun to have higher percentages of Advanced Regents Diplomas than our White students (Asian: 81.82% in 2005-2006 and 81.82% also in 2006-2007; White: 62.26% in 2005-2006 and 62.79% in 2006-2007.)

GOOD NEWS: 156 out of 161 students (96.89%) completed the higher-level course(s). In addition, at the end of the last year all ethnic groups had similar passing (obtained a score of 65 to 100) rates: Asian students, 97.5%; Black students, 98.04%; Latino students, 100%; White students, 98.89%.