The results are in for New York state students who took the new state mandated English Language Arts exam this past January.

Massapequa Schools received their students' results a day later than Newsday and other New York papers received the results of all the districts in the state.

Out of the the 53 school districts in Nassau County, Massapequa fell in the number 30 spot for the percentage of their students meeting the standards, with 67.67 percent of their students scoring in levels 3 and 4.

Students scoring in Level 1 are defined as having serious reading deficiencies; Level 2 students demonstrate partial understanding of written and oral text; Level 3 students demonstrate understanding of written and oral text with some attention to meaning beyond the literal level and level 4 students consistently demonstrate understanding of written and oral text beyond the literal level. Level 1 ranges from 455 to 602, level two from 603 to 644, level three 645 to 691, and level four ranges from 692 to 800.

The average score for the 600 students tested in Massapequa was 654.99. The Long Island average, according to Newsday figures, is 651.41.

Bob Schilling, an administrative assistant for the district, stated that because the newspapers already had the results, the district wanted to get individual student results out to the parents immediately so they sent a letter with the student's results to the students' parents before the district even had time to review the information.

Like many districts across New York who are considering what exactly the results mean, without any guidance from the state, Massapequa is trying to determine what the results mean and what should be done with them.

"From just the preliminary numbers that we've seen, 61.5 percent of our fourth graders scored in level 3, which we're very pleased with, but of course the majority of our concern lies with making sure that all students achieve as high as they can," said Schilling. With 31 percent of the students falling in level 2 and 1 percent of students falling in level 1, Massapequa is now considering what can be done for the students who are not doing as well as the district would like.

Schilling noted that the district is looking at ways that they can bring down the number of students falling in level 2 and below, and how to bring more students into the level 3 and 4 categories. "One way we're doing that is our EAST Program," said Schilling. The EAST (Elementary After School Tutoring) Program was begun by the district this past year to help those students who are not achieving as well as the district would like.

As far as the test itself goes, Schilling stated, "The state tests gives us an idea where we need to look, as the school district...and we see where our kids rank with other kids in Long Island and nearby areas, and all of New York state." The main benefit to this, according to Schilling, is that the tests give the principals and teachers a gauge to see where the district might be able to do better, where the students had problems, why that section was a problem and what could be done to remedy it.

Although the test is important, Schilling noted that the district firmly believes in teaching for understanding rather than just teaching for the test. The ultimate goal of the district is for teachers to be able to teach the students so they understand the subject well enough to do well on the test rather than to have them do well on the test and not understand what they have learned. Schilling stated that the district is very proud of its teachers' abilities in teaching for understanding and that through that ability a large percentage of the students are doing well on the tests.

"We're very pleased with the progress that our students are making. We are looking at these tests to see where our students succeed, where they stand out, and where they can do better," said Schilling.

Parents who have any questions or concerns about their child's performance on the state's fourth grade reading exam are encouraged to contact the building principal to discuss it further.