BCSD achievement report: steady, with improvements

Grades 3-8 Math proficiency over time, 2018-2024, by subgroup.

By JEFF MORRIS

The Bedford Central School District's 2024 Student Achievement Report was presented to the board of education Feb. 5 by Amy Fishkin, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. It showed most test scores are above those of the state and the region, and are either holding steady or improving.

Fishkin said the report is designed to answer questions, including: Who are our students? And, how do our students perform compared to the state, regional districts, and over time? The report is also used to see if there are subgroups of students who outperform/underperform others, and any trends that can be observed in student performance across subgroups and over time. Finally, the report can show whether grade level cohorts are making improvements from year to year, and how practices can be adjusted to meet student needs.

Fox Lane High School 2023-24 Advanced Placement exam scores.

With a total enrollment of just under 3,500 students, the district’s enrollment is continuing to trend downward, though Fishkin said it is not trending downward quite as rapidly as the rest of the state.

In the 2023-24 school year, the district had 603 students with disabilities, or 17 percent of students having IEPs; Fishkin said that is within the 56th percentile compared to other districts in the region, which is within the average range. On the other hand, with 615 English language learners, who again comprise about 17 percent of the student population, BCSD is in the 92nd percentile of districts in the Putnam-Northern Westchester region. “There are really only 8 percent of the school districts who have more ELLs than we do,” said Fishkin. A third demographic she cited shows about 39 percent of students coming from economically disadvantaged homes, which is within the 31st percentile in the region.

Fishkin noted the state is in the midst of changing over from the Common Core Standards to the New York State Next Generation Learning Standards, and the state assessments are just starting to match up with the new standards.

On the state assessments for English Language Arts in grades three to eight, the district is performing above the state at all grade levels. 

BCSD is also outperforming the Lower Hudson region in ELA at all grade levels by anywhere from 5 percent to 13 percent. 

“That’s certainly something we can feel good about,” said Fishkin, “however, we are still continuing to remain across the board at about 55 percent proficiency in ELA, certainly not where we want our proficiency to be.” She said that is an area of growth they are continually working on, with the launching of a new literacy curriculum this year.

Fishkin also showed that proficiency levels in ELA have been pretty flat since 2019, with no real impact from the pandemic. Breaking the results down further by subgroups, it was clear that non-ELL, not economically disadvantaged, and general education students were doing considerably better than ELL, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged subgroups. In the latest year there was a slight increase in scores among economically disadvantaged, and a slight decrease in scores among ELL students. 

Participation rates among elementary students tested in 2024 were high, with 224, or 93 percent of students in grade three; 257, or 92 percent, of students in grade four; and 217, or 92 percent of grade five students, participating.

In grade six, ELA proficiency remained steady at about 53-54 percent from 2019 to 2024, but in grade seven, there was a significant 13 percent increase from 2019 to 2023, surpassing prepandemic rates and remaining at that level in 2024. Grade eight also had a significant 6 percent increase in 2024. Fishkin noted participation rates at the middle school are still high, though participation dropped from 94 percent in sixth grade to 86 percent in seventh and 89 percent in eighth. “I think something happens socially when they get into seventh grade and if their friend isn’t taking the exam, they start to get that wanting to do what their friends are doing,” said Fishkin. “Overall those participation rates are still high, and much higher than they had been in years past.”

Math performance also outpaced statewide and regional results, and Fishkin noted significant increases in scores in grades three to eight. 

“What we’re seeing here is quite a significant improvement in our student math outcomes,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s completely attributed to the Bridges math curriculum, but I’d have to say that probably is a likely factor. In 2023 was the first year that we implemented the new Bridges curriculum, continuing to implement it last year in all grades.” From 2019 to now, the district went from 53 percent proficiency to 64 percent proficiency in math grades three to eight. “That is a 10.8 percentage point increase, which is a significant increase from where we were, so this upward trend in math is very promising,” said Fishkin.

Fishkin noted that math had taken more of a hit from the pandemic than ELA, “because math is linear and you need prerequisite skills in order to be able to perform at higher level math, so we did find that our teachers were having to backfill almost a full grade level to make sure that students had the prerequisite skills to move forward in their math curriculum.” While the trend lines for most subgroups are increasing at the same rates, Fishkin noted the ELL students are not progressing at the same rate, “and that’s something we’ll have to pay attention to.”

At Fox Lane High School, a third of students are taking AP courses, and 88 percent are achieving proficiency levels of 3 or higher on AP exams. Grades 9-12 regents continue to outperform the state with a range of 70 percent to 92 percent pass rate. Fishkin said graduation rates remain steady at 83 percent for the four-year cohort; 89 percent for the five-year cohort; and 92 percent for the six-year cohort. She said they are awaiting guidance from the state education department on new graduation requirements and will need to discuss their implications for BCSD at some point, but they are not changing this year or next year.