Stamford elementary schools chalked up across-the-board improvements by third-graders on last March”™s Connecticut Mastery Test ”“ the first year pupils take the test and so a closely watched measure of school performance.
School districts received an advance look at their scores in late June, and the Connecticut Department of Education released statewide results a month later.
The Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) rates school districts by students”™ ability to meet or exceed goal and proficiency levels in reading, writing and mathematics. Students take the test annually between the third and eighth grades.
The largest school district in Fairfield County, Stamford”™s improvement was only bested by the smallest district ”“ Sherman. The towns were the only local districts to gain ground in each of the six major measurements tracked by the test.
In overall scores, New Canaan barely knocked Darien off the coveted throne for third graders, as Darien joined Westport as the only Fairfield County districts to lose ground on all six criteria.
Among eighth-graders, who took the CMT one last time before heading to high school this fall, the town of Monroe achieved the best improvement, joining New Fairfield, Redding and Weston as the only districts to rise in the six measurements.
Redding and Weston registered the top overall marks against goal and proficiency levels among eighth-graders, followed by Wilton, Darien and Westport.
The next major standardized test in Connecticut those students will take is the Connecticut Aptitude Performance Test, which is administered in 10th grade.
The state as a whole registered overall CMT improvements at both the third- and eighth-grade levels. The job of improving on those results statewide falls to Mark McQuillan, the new commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Education. McQuillan replaced in April Betty Sternberg, who resigned to become superintendent of the Greenwich school system. Previously, McQuillan was deputy commissioner and chief operating officer of the Massachusetts Department of Education.
McQuillan cautioned that comparisons between school districts and years can be misleading, given that different sets of students complete the tests and other disparities between districts.
Still, despite statewide gains in most grades in mathematics and writing, McQuillan expressed dismay at a downward trend in reading comprehension.
“We are very concerned with the state of our students”™ comprehension skills, particularly in their ability to read by third grade,” McQuillan said, in a prepared statement, adding the Connecticut data correlate with results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress test. “We need significant change to have an impact on the achievement gaps that are now growing larger, not smaller.”
McQuillan said the state will:
Ӣ work with teaching schools to improve how they train new instructors to teach reading effectively;
Ӣ disseminate new model curricula, guides and expectations to schools;
Ӣ encourage districts to benchmark regularly to determine if pupils are meeting standards; and
Ӣ support districts in providing information and training for parents to encourage reading in the home.
Â
