Public school children in grades three, five, and seven will not face two rounds of standardized tests this year, thanks to a deal hammered out yesterday between city and state education officials.

Under the agreement, students will take just one test each in English and mathematics, administered by the state Department of Education. The state will provide the city with test results for at-risk students in June so the city can make decisions about which students meet the cutoff for promotion.

Last month, the city Department of Education drew fire from parents and school officials when it announced that students in those grades would have to take two sets of exams, one each for the city and the state, because the state exams would not be graded in time for the city to decide which children should attend summer school or be held back.

Until this school year, the state administered exams for fourth and eighth grades, but for the first time this year, it will administer tests for third through eighth grades, to comply with the new federal education law, No Child Left Behind. None of the results would be ready until late summer, the state Education Department initially said – too late for the city to make its promotion decisions.

Historically, it was the city that administered exams in grades three, five, six, and seven, and it released the results in the spring.

Yesterday’s agreement applies only to New York City, to conform to its promotion policy, in which students in grades three, five, and seven are automatically held back if they score on the lowest of four levels on either exam and aren’t granted an appeal to be promoted.

Statewide results will be made available in August and September for English and math, respectively.

“I think it’s good that they’re sticking to one test,” the parent of a fourth-grader at Ballet Tech School in Manhattan, Tiayana Marks, said. She was worried that her son Isiah would spend too much time next year studying for tests.

“It eats up valuable instruction time where you become focused on teaching technique instead of content,” Ms. Marks said. In a joint statement, both the city schools chancellor, Joel Klein, and the state education commissioner, Richard Mills, lauded the agreement.

“This plan will give the city the information it needs so that students who are struggling academically can get the extra help that they need in summer school,” Mr. Mills said.

The president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, had criticized the decision to double-test students. “I’m glad they have come to their senses and developed a way to spare thousands of third-, fifth-, and seventh-graders from having to take two math tests and two ELA tests. This is something that never should have happened in the first place.”