Students in Catholic elementary schools in the archdiocese scored higher than New York City public school students in math and English Language Arts (ELA), and higher than New York City charter school students in English on the New York State Education Department assessment tests during the 2011-2012 school year.

Students in grades 4, 6 and 8 are given the state tests.

“Thanks to the classroom teachers and school administrators, once again our Catholic school students demonstrated continued growth in last year’s state math and ELA assessments,” said Dr. Timothy McNiff, superintendent of schools in the archdiocese.

He added, “These scores, which are among the highest in New York City and much of New York State—coupled with a Catholic high school graduation rate of 99 percent and with 96 percent of those graduates going on to higher education—demonstrate that investments made to continually improve instruction and professional development are paying big dividends for the children in our classrooms.”

Catholic elementary school students scored higher compared with students of all schools in the state in ELA in grades 4, 6 and 8, and math in grades 4 and 8.

In ELA testing for grade 4, the percentage of students in Catholic schools in the archdiocese who met or exceeded proficiency standards was 68 percent, in comparison to 59.4 percent of students in all schools in New York. For the grade 6 ELA test, 65.1 percent of Catholic school students in the archdiocese met or exceeded proficiency standards compared to 55.7 percent for students in all schools in New York. Catholic school students scored 63 percent for the ELA grade 8 exam compared to 50.3 percent of students in all schools.

In math grade 4, students in archdiocesan schools scored at 71.1 percent proficiency compared to 69.2 percent for all state schools; and in math grade 8, Catholic schools scored 63.3 percent compared to 61.3 percent for all state schools.

Students in all schools in the state outscored Catholic school students in the archdiocese in math grade 6. Students in New York City charter schools scored higher in math for grades 4, 6 and 8 than Catholic school students.

As in past years, designated schools in the archdiocese participated in a Sustaining Excellence program, where previous test scores were evaluated and resources were allocated to offer instructional support for principals and teachers.

“This was done through a partnership with Catapult Learning and the International Center for Leadership in Education,” said Joanne DeMizio, associate superintendent for curriculum and staff development in the archdiocese.

She said, “In addition, literacy and mathematics coaches were made available to schools through collaborations with Catapult Learning and The Cooke Center Institute of the Cooke Center for Learning and Development.”

Compared to last year’s Catholic elementary scores, test scores for Catholic school students increased this year in English Language Arts grade 4 from 67.4 percent to 68 percent, and in Math grade 4 from 64.5 percent to 71.1 percent and Math grade 8 from 59.4 percent to 63.3 percent. Scores for ELA grade 6 remained the same. English Language Art scores grade 8 and math scores grade 6 were slightly lower this year when compared to last year.