Connecticut fourth- and eighth-graders put in a mostly flat performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, trailing many other states according to statistics published by the National Center for Education Statistics.
The results from NAEP, often called “the nation”™s report card,” report the educational progress of students nationwide and allow states to compare the performance of their students to the performance of students in other states. Since NAEP selects a representative sample of students to be assessed rather than testing all students, it does not report results for individual schools or students.
While Connecticut students traditionally have outperformed the national average for NAEP, the 2011 results show the average fourth-grade math score here was not significantly different from the national public school average.
In reading, Connecticut”™s fourth-grade scores have remained flat for more than a decade.
Connecticut remains among the top 10 states with the largest achievement gaps based on every subgroup comparison, and in many cases occupies the top position according to the Connecticut Department of Education.
“We don”™t run away from problems in this administration ”“ we confront them head on and we do our best to fix them,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, in a prepared statement. “This news is a sobering reminder of the real disparity in our state between some of the highest performing school systems and some of the lowest. Regardless of where a child lives, what their parents do or how much money they have, it”™s our job to ensure they get an education that encourages them to grow and prepares them to succeed. It”™s clear that we”™re not there yet ”“ but we will be, so long as we”™re honest about the problems we face and serious about putting student learning first and foremost.”
In September, Malloy named Stefan Pryor commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Education.
Following the release of the lackluster standardized testing results, Pryor said he would seek an additional $25 million from the state to help turn around under-performing school districts.
Pryor said in a release he would work with Malloy and the state Board of Education to “strengthen our measures and create the tools necessary to improve student performance and narrow the achievement gap throughout the state.”
At the state Board of Education meeting on Nov. 2, Pryor said the proposal to boost education spending by $25 million was in the works before NCES released its standardized testing results.
