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Common Core Briefing
2013 New York State Test
About The Test and Our Scores
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The 2013 New Yorks State Test is significantly different from previous tests because it redefines
college readiness. Now, students who achieve proficiency are deemed to be on track to
graduate from high school ready for college and careers.
o In math, our schools and students came out well ahead of their community school
district peers, above statewide averages, and closing in on the non-poor statewide
average.
o More encouragingly, only 12 percent of our students performed at the lowest level
(Level 1) in math. If we can challenge and support our entire student body to move up
one level on the test, this means we will achieve 88 percent proficiency. Similarly, in
ELA, we had only 22 percent of students in Level 1.
The first year of Common Core-aligned assessments set a new benchmark and impacted scores
throughout the state, including at Achievement First. These much more rigorous assessments
set a new, higher bar that is now truly aligned to college readiness standards and international
competitiveness benchmarks.
Across our schools, proficiency rates were lower than the 2012 assessments by an average of 30
percentage points in ELA and 41 percentage points in math.
Achievement First students achieved an average of 46 percent proficiency in math and 28
percent proficiency in ELA, compared with New York City proficiency rates of 30 percent in math
and 26 percent in ELA.
Our host community schools districts in New York averaged 15 percent proficient in math and
15 percent proficient in ELA, and New York statewide performance averaged 31 percent
proficiency in both subjects.
While the Common Core mountain looks quite steep from where we stand today, we are
actually proud of how close many Achievement First students are to reaching the higher bar
established by the Common Core.
More information is available at nysed.gov.
About Our Approach to the Common Core
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Achievement First applauds the state for holding our students to a higher bar. Co-CEO and
Superintendent Doug McCurry wrote an op-ed about the importance of the Common Core. Erika
Dunham’s blog post on the last page of this document is also a great example of the tone we are
expressing.
The Common Core is an incredibly important step toward improving education for all students
because it:
o Redefines proficiency
o Focuses on critical thinking and strong writing
o Aligns a K-12 curriculum to college-readiness standards
o Focuses on fewer standards in greater depth
o Challenges students to read more complex non-fiction tests
Achievement First Talking Points | Common Core New York State Test
Page 1 of 3
For support, email marketing@achievementfirst.org
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In math, finally brings together deep conceptual understanding with procedural and
factual fluency
As our mission states, we are committed to further increasing the rigor of our instruction to
ensure our students are prepared to graduate from top colleges, succeed in a competitive world
and serve as the next generation of leaders in our communities.
We truly imagine that focused energy during the next several years will help all of our students
achieve at this new, high level—and we can imagine what a difference this level of preparation
will make for them later in life.
In order to keep our parents informed, we have updated our public website to include a
Common Core FAQ section for Achievement First families and supporters.
While it is clear that we are not yet where we need to be in terms of ensuring our students have
the knowledge and skills they need for college success, we will respond to this challenge as we
have to others. We believe that the advent of the Common Core is the most exciting challenge –
and opportunity – we have had in the last two decades in American education, and we will work
tirelessly to make sure that all of our students reach this higher bar.
AF’s Approach to the Common Core: Reconsidering True College Readiness
Erika Dunham, Associate Director of Elementary ELA
New, powerful and a little mysterious … the latest water cooler talk … featured in countless interviews,
news articles and ads on the NYC subway. No, we’re not talking about “Grumpy Cat,” William and Kate’s
baby, or season three of Game of Thrones.
We’re talking about the Common Core, of course!
We freely admit it: we love these standards because they have rallied the country around a common
vision of what it means for students to be truly proficient at each grade level, they are helping us pare
down instruction to the essentials, and they are driving rigor in new and incredible ways.
However, they also hold a hidden danger. The standards are so new and laser-focused that some
organizations believe they have transitioned to the Common Core already—even though teaching hasn’t
changed at all.
Achievement First is committed to the opposite strategy. Our network started developing Common
Core-aligned materials before much external guidance was published. We read the latest research and
adjust accordingly, we push each other’s thinking on how the standards look in interim assessments and
in lesson plans, and we humbly take every piece of data and feedback as an opportunity to learn.
Learning only happens when something disrupts that status quo. We need to get comfortable
experimenting with new teaching structures, evaluating new curricula and analyzing new assessments.
We need to get comfortable with students grappling independently with difficult texts. We need to get
comfortable with stepping down from the lecture stage. We need to get comfortable with reconsidering
what true learning looks like.
Admittedly, this constant state of discomfort, learning and adjustment can feel overwhelming, but when
it begins to feel like we’re asking students to scale an ever-growing wall, we try to remember a
Achievement First Talking Points | Common Core New York State Test
Page 2 of 3
For support, email marketing@achievementfirst.org
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metaphor David Coleman uses. The standards are not a wall, he says, but a battering ram. The standards
focus our energy on the wall’s weaknesses until the wall crumbles.
This wall stands between success and setbacks, between choices and dead ends, between Kid President
and the president. So let’s push beyond complacency, pride, uncertainty and fear. Let’s pick up the
battering ram together and bear the discomfort as we learn how to make this wall crumble.
Achievement First Talking Points | Common Core New York State Test
Page 3 of 3
For support, email marketing@achievementfirst.org