Many parents say they are more confused than ever after receiving their children’s English Language Arts scores this week in a new format that the state has touted as more user-friendly.

The two-page reports are meant to explain to parents the three different standards children are expected to meet, as well as breaking down the scores for each individual child.

“I think it’s extremely vague,” a parent of a fifth-grader and a high school student, Bijou Miller, said. “I’ve been getting these for a long time and I was really expecting to have a lot more detail than this on this report.”

A spokesman for the state education department, Jonathan Burman, said a committee that included parents had helped redesign the reports this year to make them easier for parents to understand. The new reports include more detailed explanations of the standards, ranges that allow parents to compare their children’s scores with the target scores, tips for parents such as where to go for additional information, and more graphics.

“If anything, I think we’ve added clarity to them,” he said. “And to the extent that parents are having difficulty understanding the report, that parent should speak to his or her child’s teacher.”

Some parents said it was unclear to them from the report how the percentages given for each standard are related to their child’s final score, which is broken down into four levels.

Ms. Miller said her daughter scored a level 3 (the highest is 4) even though she seemed to score far above the target ranges on the standards.

“These numbers don’t tell me anything,” she said. “It’s giving me three different numbers, but how is that translating into her getting a level 3? I don’t know.”

Another parent of a fifth-grader, Carmen Colon, the executive director of the New York City Education Councils, said her problem with the test was the complicated language used to explain each standard.

“It’s not simple enough so that if someone’s who educational level isn’t up to speed can readily understand,” she said.

All the reports were distributed in English. The state has data about which parents speak limited English, and for those parents a note is included on the first page in that parent’s native language pointing them to a Web site where they can request a report in their own language.

For Solanger Cabral, a Manhattan parent leader who speaks Spanish, this seemed like an ineffective step, especially for parents who do not have Internet access.

“Give it to them in the language they want, in their native language, so that they can get involved with their children,” she said. “If they don’t understand, how can they help their children do better?”

Mr. Burman said the state would be happy to consider any feedback on the new reports.

“This is the first year we are using this new report form. We are always looking for input from the public to improve what we do, and this is no exception,” he said.