Math scores, however, more on par with city schools
"I'm pleased with them," Timothy McNiff, Archdiocese of New York Schools Superintendent, said of the scores. "Clearly we are outpacing New York City public schools, and in many cases New York state."STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island Catholic school students beat their public school peers by leaps and bounds when it came to the English Language Arts exam, with the performance gap at its widest for eighth graders: A tremendous 27 points.
But the news wasn't all good -- math scores were more on par with city schools, and the percentage of Catholic Island sixth graders proficient in math fell by about five points, to 61.3 percent, just below the figure for Island public schoolers.
Across the entire Archdiocese of New York -- which represents three boroughs and several counties north of the city, including Dutchess and Rockland counties -- ELA and Math scores rivaled statewide scores, which are consistently higher than New York City scores.
At an editorial board meeting with the Advance last week, before the scores were released, Archdiocese of New York Schools Superintendent Dr. Timothy McNiff touted the test scores at Catholic schools.
"I'm pleased with them," Dr. McNiff said of the scores. "Clearly we are outpacing New York City public schools, and in many cases New York state."
To be deemed "proficient" in a subject, a student must score at a Level 3 or 4 on the exam.
On Staten Island, Catholic students stood out when it came to English, with a gap between them and public schoolers that grew wider with the age of the student. In fourth grade, 68 percent of Catholic schoolers were proficient, compared to 57.4 percent of public school fourth graders: Nearly an 11-point gap.
In sixth grade, the gap expanded to about 18 points: 69.5 percent of Catholic schoolers here were proficient in that grade, compared to 51.2 public schoolers. But the gap was widest for those students about to embark on high school and the Regents exams: 68.4 percent of Catholic school eighth-graders were proficient, compared to just 41.5 percent of public eighth-graders on Staten Island.