Washington Heights, Inwood School Performance Improves in Math, English

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS-INWOOD, NY — New York City Public Schools recorded "substantial" gains on state English and math exams announced Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. With a greater number of students in Washington Heights and Inwood scoring as "high performing," the neighborhood is reflecting those yearly gains.

“Our public schools are a cornerstone of New York City,” de Blasio said. “These results represent important progress and outline real improvements across each borough of our City. We congratulate our students, families and devoted educators for this critical step forward. We remain focused on building on these gains and others – such as the highest-ever high school graduation rate – to deliver equity and excellence for every public school student across the City, no matter their zip code.”

The citywide rise in test scores was consistent with the data for District 6 — which spans the Washington Heights, Inwood and part of Northern Harlem.

The test results released Monday included data for all students grades 3-8, and the data was also further broken down by factors such as gender, ethnicity and free lunch eligibility.

Among all students in all grades tests results increased in both English and math compared to last year's numbers for District 6. The percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 (the highest performing) in English jumped from 18.5 percent to 27.1 percent. The improvement was less noticeable when it came to math scores, where the percentage of students in Level 3 or 4 jumped from 23.4 percent to 24.3 percent.

"New York City is seeing positive trends in education statistics, a clear sign that the more comprehensive approach to our schools employed by the de Blasio administration is working," said City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez. "Of course, as the Department of Education knows, tests are not the only measure of a students' success and learning. That's why we continue to see more innovative approaches to teaching and learning by our great teachers, ensuring more well-rounded students. We must continue this positive work so that more of our students are fully prepared for college upon graduation and I know our city is up to the task.”

When the numbers are broken down by students' ethnicity, the data shows that the district still has work to do. While improving for the most part, numbers among black and Hispanic students are still much lower than among white and Asian students. The same goes for students eligible for free lunch, where the eligible students scored achieved lower test scores on average than students not eligible for free lunch.

Here's how the test result numbers break down by ethnicity in District 6:
Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in math:

• Black: 18.4 percent in 2015, 17.3 percent in 2016
• Hispanic: 21.7 percent in 2015, 22.7 percent in 2016
• White: 58.8 percent in 2015, 57.7 percent in 2016
• Asian: 61.5 percent in 2015, 50.6 percent in 2016

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in English:

• Black: 16.8 percent in 2015, 23.2 in 2016
• Hispanic: 16.7 percent in 2015, 25.3 percent in 2016
• White: 51.5 percent in 2015, 58.6 percent in 2016
• Asian: 42.7 percent in 2015, 51.3 percent in 2016

Here's how the test result numbers break down by free lunch eligibility in District 6:

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in math:

• Free lunch: 21.2 percent in 2015, 21.8 percent in 2016
• No free lunch: 35.8 percent in 2015, 37.2 percent in 2016

Percentage of students scoring Level 3 or 4 in English:

• Free lunch: 16.2 percent in 2015, 24.4 percent in 2016
• No free lunch: 31.7 percent in 2015, 41.3 percent in 2016

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