TUPPER LAKE — The Tupper Lake Central School District recently released its state test results from last year. The district’s passing rates lagged behind all state averages for grades three through eight in English language arts (ELA), math and science assessments, though TLCSD improved its rates from last year on most tests.

Students across New York state in these grade levels are tested once per year during the spring in each of those subjects, except science, which is tested once in fifth grade and once in eighth grade.

The tests are scored in performance levels one through four, with three and four both considered passing. A score of one means the student is well below the proficiency level for their grade. Two indicates partial proficiency, three is considered proficient for the subject’s grade-level standard subject and four indicates the student is exceeding proficiency standards.

The 2025 test results for all students, including economically disadvantaged students and those with disabilities, are below. According to state Education Department enrollment data for the 2023-24 school year — the most recent available — 52% of TLCSD students are economically disadvantaged and 21% have a disability. Statewide for the same year, 59% of students are economically disadvantaged and 19% have a disability.

ELA

¯ Grade 3 — NYS: 54%, TLCSD: 14.0%

¯ Grade 4 — NYS: 54%, TLCSD: 10.2%

¯ Grade 5 — NYS: 57%, TLCSD: 24.2%

¯ Grade 6 — NYS: 51%, TLCSD: 20.8%

¯ Grade 7 — NYS: 51%, TLCSD: 36.4%

¯ Grade 8 — NYS: 52%, TLCSD: 46.4%

Math

¯ Grade 3 — NYS: 60%, TLCSD: 19.3%

¯ Grade 4 — NYS: 59%, TLCSD: 23.7%

¯ Grade 5 — NYS: 54%, TLCSD: 33.3%

¯ Grade 6 — NYS: 51%, TLCSD: 24.5%

¯ Grade 7 — NYS: 56%, TLCSD: 45.5%

¯ Grade 8 — NYS: 55%, TLCSD: 30.4%

Science

¯ Grade 5 — NYS: 33%, TLCSD: 30.3%

¯ Grade 8 — NYS: 46%, TLCSD: 34.8%

In grades three through five, 83.3% of TLCSD students scored either a one (51%) or a two (32.3%) on their ELA tests last spring, down from more than 90% in 2024, when 66.2% of students scored a one and 24.5% scored a two. In math, 73.9% of grades three through five TLCSD students scored either a one (38.3%) or a two (35.6%), down from 86.7% in 2024, when 48.3% of students scored a one and 38.4% scored a two.

The number of students demonstrating proficiency in ELA in grades three through five increased to 14.8% last spring, up from 7.3% in 2024. The number of students demonstrating proficiency in math in grades three through five increased to 24.4% last spring, up from 12% in 2024.

It was a mixed bag for the district’s Regents exam scores, with four improving and five declining last spring from the year before among all students tested, including economically disadvantaged students and those with a disability.

Tests that saw improved scores, in order of the greatest passing rates, include:

¯ Global history — 56.5% passing, up from 55.7% in 2024

¯ Living Environment — 52.6% passing up from 51.5% in 2024

¯ Algebra I — 45% passing, up from 42.7% in 2024

¯ Physics — 38.5% passing, up from 35.7% in 2023 (TLCSD offers the class every other year)

Tests whose passage rates declined, in order of the greatest passing rates, include:

¯ ELA — 68.9% passing, down from 78.5% in 2024

¯ Algebra II — 66.7% passing, down from 75.9% in 2024

¯ Geometry — 66.7% passing, down from 78.6% in 2024

¯ U.S. History — 54.6% passing, down from 76.4% in 2024

¯ Chemistry — 12.5% passing, down from 43.5% in 2024

TLCSD Superintendent Jaycee Welsh detailed the data at the district’s Nov. 3 school board meeting. She noted that it was important to not just look at this year’s rates, but compare those to the past several years of data to see how students’ proficiency has trended.

Welsh had data broken down into cohort trends, extending back to 2022. The comparisons follow the class cohort back in time. For example, this year’s sixth-grade math scores were compared to last year’s fifth-grade math scores and 2023’s fourth-grade math scores.

“Just at first blush, we had some very nice gains in math,” she said. “We had some nice gains in ELA, they were a little less prominent than our math gains.”

This created a total of 10 cohorts with at least one year of past data, five in ELA and five in math. Of those, seven saw improvements from last year’s data. These include the classes of 2031, 2032 and 2033 improving in both math and ELA, and the class of 2029 improving in ELA. The three declines from last year are the class of 2029 in math, and the class of 2030 in both math and ELA. Welsh said the trends are “very impressive” for the majority of the grades.

She pointed to the class of 2031’s ELA gains as particularly notable, with the class going from a 1.9% pass rate in 2024 to 20.8% last spring.

“We’re making gains, we really are,” Welsh said. “And what we know about test data is it doesn’t recover overnight, it doesn’t change overnight. It’s systems change — what we want is slow and steady progress.”

She said the goal in these numbers wasn’t perfection, but growth. Welsh commended faculty and staff on their work throughout the year to improve the numbers.

“The most lasting progress is not quick, it’s slow and steady,” she said. “Kudos to our administrators and our teachers and our support staff, because we’re making positive changes.”