Mike and I don't disagree all that often, but I'm MUCH more encouraged about NYC's math gains than he is.
More students are passing the test. Average scores are increasing. The gap between the city's scores and the state's are closing. The racial achievement gap is narrowing. Similarly positive results were seen in ELA.
Rather than concluding that kids are learning more, Mike says this is just evidence that kids and teachers have gotten accustomed to the tests. First, that seems like hyper-skepticism--an exaggerated effort to explain away positive results.
Second, that analysis strikes me as a bit unfair to those running school systems. So we have to discount all improvements in test scores? How can a city or state demonstrate that things are getting better then?
NYC just reported significant gains on the measures they're held accountable for: state reading and math scores. Maybe I'm naive, but that seems like more reason for encouragement than cynicism.