determined that it would not do its own testing in fourth and eighth grades, relying instead on the new State examinations for those grades. Until 1999-2000, and in contrast to the State, BOE scored its tests on a curve using "norm-based scoring." A student's performance on the examination was graded by comparison to the performance of a sample of students from around the country assembled by the test publisher. Norms are usually reported in percentiles which represent the number of students in the sample that scored at or below a particular score. For example, a score at the "50th percentile" indicates that 50% of the sample group of students scored at or below that level. Defendants argue that New York City public school students are getting a sound basic education because City students typically score at just below the 50th percentile on City reading tests and above the 50th percentile on the math tests. Defendants argue that these scores show that New York City students score at the "national average" or at "grade level." The court finds the terms "grade level" or "national average" inapplicable to BOE's norm-based exams. These examinations do not assess performance by fixed criteria concerning what a student should know in a given grade, but rather by the performance of the sample. Therefore the term "grade level" is misleading. Similarly, the so-called "national average" is not set by tallying scores on an examination given around the country. This would be impossible, as different school districts around the country use different examinations created by different [187 [187 Misc.2d Misc.2d 67] 67] publishers. Rather, the percentile ranks are set by reference to a relatively small sample. While the commercial publishers of the tests attempt to make the sample statistically representative of the nationwide student population, the evidence at trial demonstrated that they are not entirely successful in that endeavor. Defendants also argue that the sample has a smaller proportion of at-risk students than does New York City, and that a school system with so many atrisk students must be providing a minimally adequate education if it is able to keep pace with a sample of students from proportionately more privileged backgrounds. While this argument has some merit, it is overcome by a careful examination of the performance of the City's public school students. First, it must be remembered that while the City's public schools have a large proportion of at-risk students, they also have a significant minority of students who are extremely accomplished. These high-achieving students push up the City's average scores and can offset to a degree the poor performance of at-risk students. Second and more significant is the fact that City public schools every year decide not to promote a substantial proportion of students. Over 40% of all ninth graders do not enter the tenth grade on time. In Queens and Manhattan, two of the higher-performing high school districts, over 25% of students are overage for their grade. In Manhattan, a majority of students entering ninth grade will have scores above the 50th percentile in reading and math standardized tests given in the eighth grade. Yet over 25% of ninth graders then go on to fail English and math courses. These figures demonstrate that a class' performance at the 50th percentile of the City's standardized tests does not equal performance at grade level. City students' poor performance on the State's new examinations also undercuts any optimism caused by their scoring at the 50th percentile in the City's tests. These and other shortcomings of norm-referenced standardized tests, and a desire to ensure that students are meeting the Regents' new standards, led BOE to replace norm-based tests with criterion-based tests beginning in the 1999-2000 school year. In sum, City public school students' graduation/drop-out rates and performance on standardized tests demonstrate that they are not receiving a minimally adequate education. This evidence becomes overwhelming when coupled with the [187 [187 Misc.2d Misc.2d 68] 68] extensive evidence, discussed above, of the inadequate resources provided the City's public schools. The majority of the City's public school students leave high school unprepared for more than low-paying work, unprepared for college, and unprepared for the duties placed upon them by a democratic society. The schools have broken a covenant with students and with society. In the next section, the court examines whether the failure of the New York City public schools is attributable to the State's actions. V. C a u s at i o n The following constitute the court's findings of fact regarding the causal link between the State's public school funding system and educational opportunity. In its 1995 decision the Court of Appeals directed this court to determine whether plaintiffs demonstrated this causal link: "In order to succeed in the specific context of this case, plaintiffs will have to establish a causal link between the present funding system and any proven failure to provide a sound basic education to New York City school children." (Campaign for Fiscal Equity v State of New York, 86 N.Y.2d 307, 318, supra.) The establishment of such a causal link might appear to be fairly straightforward. If it can be shown that increased funding can provide New York City with better teachers, better school buildings, and better instrumentalities of learning, then it would appear that a causal link has been established between the current funding system and the poor performance of the City's public schools. Defendants brought forth evidence at trial which they assert invalidates this assumption. First, defendants offered expert testimony that educational resources do not have an effect on student outcomes. If these experts are correct, then lack of resources cannot be a "cause" of students' failure to receive a sound basic education. According to defendants' experts the crucial determinants of student performance are students' socioeconomic characteristics, and enhanced resources can do little to overcome the educational deficits that at-risk children bring to school. While the court is not persuaded by this argument it cannot reject it out of hand. Beginning with the publication of the [187 [187 Misc.2d Misc.2d 69] 69] seminal Coleman Report in 1966, 33 there has been a significant body of educational research that purports to show that variations in school resources