State Tests

On April 11 and 12, our students in grades 3 and 4 will be taking the New York State English Language Arts (ELA) test. 3rd and 4th graders will be taking a paper version of the test, which will include both multiple choice and open-response questions based on the New York State ELA standards. The test is untimed - student can use as much time as they need.

The following week, on April 16 and 17, our 5th graders will be taking the computer-based New York State ELA test, which will also be untimed, and includes multiple choice and open-response questions based on the New York State ELA standards.

The state test is one measure of many measures of student performance that we use (including classroom assessments, academic screeners, and reading-level assessments). We use the results of the State Tests in the fall, to identify school, grade, and class-wide patterns and trends in the data and adjust instructional practices, and the city and state use the results for school accountability. While all of the teaching and learning happening across the school throughout the year is standards-aligned and will prepare students to demonstrate grade-level proficiency, over the past few weeks, our upper-grade teachers have been embedding explicit test-preparation in their lessons.

Families have the option to opt-out of State Testing. If you are interested in exploring this option, please reach out to Mr. Buckley (mbuckley@ps154.org) and your child’s classroom teacher.