Times Union | These results might be frustrating to those who wanted New York students to be better educated, and thought the motivator of an exam would move the dial. The idea was that students would work harder and thus learn more.

“That hasn’t borne out. It just doesn’t happen,” said Sarah Part, senior policy analyst for Advocates for Children of New York, which distributed the research brief. “If it did, you would see it borne out in the National Assessment of Education Progress, on SAT scores, college acceptance rates, but no one has seen that.”

What does appear to increase knowledge is meaningful work, hands-on activities and a nurturing educational environment, she said.

“This policy does not do that,” she said. “What it does do is it does cause harm to some students.”