Reading Scores Rise

More of New Haven’s elementary-school students are reading at grade level then ever before, though their proficiency rates still lag well behind the rest of the state.

Those facts emerged in the Connecticut State Department of Education’s release of standardized testing data on Thursday afternoon, the fourth year of results under the Smarter Balanced Assessment that’s used to test third through eighth graders in 15 states.

Last school year, across the board, New Haven’s numbers ticked upward, though barely in math.

The district saw a 2.1‑point jump in the portion of students proficient in English language arts, but 66.5 percent are still behind where they’re supposed to be. Similarly, the district saw a 0.3‑point bump in the portion of students proficient in math, but 78.8 percent are still behind.

In a statement, Superintendent Carol Birks was quoted as saying that she felt ​“pleased by the performance of our students.”

“These scores show a sustained pattern of growth in the district and a firm foundation of instructional practices,” her statement said. ​“Across the district these scores demonstrate that all of our students can achieve and experience academic growth.”

Large gaps remain with the rest of the state, where half of elementary school students are at grade level: 55.3 percent in reading and 46.7 percent in math.

But New Haven’s recent gains in achievement have matched or even exceeded those of the rest of Connecticut. 

If New Haven keeps up the progress in reading that it’s made on the Smarter Balanced over the last three years, it could match the state’s proficiency in English language arts within 13 years, when current kindergarteners will be receiving their high school diplomas.

In math, though, where the gap is smaller, New Haven and the state both saw scores rise at the same pace over the last three years.

Another state measure, though, suggests that Elm City students could have trouble keeping up.

Looking only at the number of students who meet academic benchmarks doesn’t indicate much about the quality of schools, rather than parent’s salaries and degrees, the number of books stacked on shelves and language spoken within the home, and the neighborhood where kids grew up. That’s why the state also measures growth from year to year, tracking how much individual students are learning.

“We’re trying to see, in the year, did the learning happen?” said Ajit Gopalakrishnan, the state’s chief performance officer. ​“It’s a good measure of curricular and instructional effectiveness.”

The average students in New Haven’s elementary schools are meeting only 58.3 percent of their targets in reading and 53.1 percent in math. Each student who’s below proficiency needs to max out their targets to catch up to grade level within five years.

The Connecticut State Department of Education cautions against looking at test scores as the sole indicator of school quality. Later in the year, the department will release a comprehensive analysis of school performance that also weighs attendance rates, access to arts, physical fitness and many other indicators. ​“This is an important aspect, but still only one aspect,” Gopalakrishnan said.

Birks said that the data points will aid in her review of the district’s ​“instructional practices, curriculum and assessments,” though she also noted that the scores represent only one measurement of student achievement and growth.

“In looking at the promising results at some of our schools, we will incorporate and scale some of those successful practices across the district to increase academic growth for all students,” her statement said. ​“By focusing on the instructional core and researched best practices including supporting the whole child, I am confident that New Haven students will continue to grow.”

Across the district, school performance varied, with a handful of schools consistently beating expectations.

Two schools outperformed the state in the portion of students who are at grade level in both reading and math. Worthington Hooker, a neighborhood school in East Rock that’s far less racially isolated than the district as a whole, and Engineering & Science University Magnet School (ESUMS), a combined middle and high school that accepts students from the suburbs.

Among high-needs students, which the state defines as those who were raised in low-income families, are learning English or have been diagnosed with a disability, New Haven, as a whole, lagged behind the state in staying on grade level.

At 10 schools, however, high-needs students outperformed similarly challenged peers across the rest of Connecticut in demonstrating proficiency in one subject.

Five schools, in particular, did so in both reading and math scores: Hooker and ESUMS, as well as Nathan Hale, another neighborhood school that’s also far less racially isolated than the district as a whole, Mauro-Sheridan Inter-District Magnet and West Rock STREAM Academy, inter-district magnet schools in the Amity neighborhood.

In terms of growth, high-needs students at 17 schools made bigger gains toward their goals than similarly challenged peers statewide in one subject.

Two schools did so for both reading and math targets: Hooker and Mauro-Sheridan.

The district says that it has a number of strategies to continue improving scores.

In English, teachers will continue to focus on interventions for students who are behind after seeing success with programs like Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Read 180 Universal, which screens students for a ​“lexile score” and then helps them progress to their individual benchmarks, with supports or challenges.

In the early grades, teachers will also focus on implementing a systematic, sequential phonics program, while in the later grades, they will try out new units that cover multiple literary genres to prepare students for encountering a wide range of texts.

In math, the district plans to double down on its rigor, keeping fidelity to the curriculum, teaching study skills, providing more feedback on homework assignments and examining student work on performance tasks.

Like in reading, students are already screened for their ​“quantile score” three times a year, but the administrators will focus on setting achievement goals to meet before the next inventory.