June 13, 2007 -- State math scores released yesterday show black and Hispanic students in city schools made the biggest strides over the past year, officials announced yesterday.
Black and Hispanic students who met or exceeded state math standards in grades 3 to 8 increased about 9 percent this year compared to 2006. In all, 55.4 percent of black students passed the standardized test, as did 59 percent of Hispanics.
"As far as instruction is concerned, New York City is quite obviously on the right track," said state education commissioner Richard Mills.
Historically, black and Hispanics students have done poorly compared to Asian and white classmates. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein has called this disparity a "civil rights" issue that is his top priority.
Overall, the test scores for all pupils in grades 3 to 8 showed 65.1 percent of students at city public schools met or beat math standards, compared to 57.3 percent last year.
