Sachem Math Scores Up, While State Average is Down

While New York as a whole went down in average with fourth-grade math scores during the last round of national testing, Sachem’s fourth grade numbers rose by 1 percent.

According to Sachem school officials, the fourth grade assessments rose from 85 to 86 in the past year, but statewide the mark fell for the first time since 1992.

In third grade Sachem is down from 80 to 71 points, while in fifth grade numbers remained even at 81.

At the secondary level from sixth to eighth grade there has been overall improvement. In eighth grade there was a half percent dip in scores. Sixth grade is up 1.5 percent, while seventh grade is up 3 percent.

Paul Manzo, Sachem’s assistant superintendent for instruction and curriculum at the secondary level, said there are several factors that contribute to these changes, including a change in cut scores, the format of the assessment and the questions presented within the assessment.

“It will be very interesting to see how we do this year considering that the state has selected a different company for creating the exams,” he said, “and it is expected that they will eliminate wording in the questions that can be misleading or tricky.”