Children continue to suffer from limited in-person learning and school access in the pandemic.

And one more area has been impacted.

The New York State Education Department's third through eighth-grade assessments were given last school year, despite many students still learning virtually. Virtual students could not take the exams.

The exams can be part of diagnosing support vulnerable students may need.

Schools statewide see the issue, as not all schools have low testing participation. Leaders reiterate that this is only one piece of the puzzle to help students.

The results are in. The New York State Education Department has released the 2021 ELA and math assessment data.

Dr. Mark Potter is the Liverpool Central School district superintendent.

“We had an opportunity to roll out three-day testing for our kids. If you remember the previous year, the testing protocols were all canceled," Potter said.

So how many were tested in 2021?

“We were seeing somewhere between 80% and 90% of our kids, maybe a little higher in our elementary buildings is the typically high 70s, low 80s,” Potter said. “In our middle schools for both ELA and math. But compare that statewide I think the numbers that they're looking at statewide is more like four out of 10 kids were actually testing.”

Keep in mind that students that were virtual were not eligible to take the testing.

The New York State Education Department says these results don't reflect the student population and should not be compared to previous school years. As a result, only district and school-level results are posted on their website.

“Assessing students is one important piece it really tried to understand where kids are, logically as they move between third grade to eighth grade,” Potter said.

For your child individually, educators can use the test results to understand and support the specific needs of students.

“We’ll use the information where beneficial, but we still need to assess kids on a day to day basis formatively rather than summative assessment,” Potter said.

The New York State Education Department says the 2022 third through eighth grade ELA and math tests will return to a two-session format measuring the current learning standards.