Standardized Test Scores Show Progress

Standardized test scores continued their upward rise at New Haven’s elementary schools last year, though most kids still aren’t at grade level.

That’s spelled out in the latest round of data that the Connecticut State Department of Education released on Monday morning, in the fifth year of Smarter Balanced Assessment scores used to evaluate third through eighth graders in math and reading.

Across the city’s elementary schools, 34.4 percent of students are on grade level in reading, up 0.9 points from the previous year, and 22.5 percent of students are on grade level in math, up 1.2 points from the previous year.

That puts New Haven well behind the rest of the state in proficiency, where 55.7 percent of students are on grade level in reading and 48.1 percent are on grade level in math, but ahead of other big cities, outperforming Hartford, Bridgeport and Waterbury.

The district as a whole is closing the gap with the state in reading, and at current rates, it will catch up to the state in a decade. But in math, the district as a whole is falling slightly behind the state’s pace.

“While we continue to see promising year-to-year increases for all student groups meeting or exceeding their achievement benchmark in both [English language arts] and math, our mission to close gaps around the state remains a priority,” Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

“Together with our districts and school leaders, we will identify the local practices that are working and focus our support on the instructional core at the heart of our work,” he went on. ​“A strong instructional core, which includes connection with students, a strong curriculum, and effective teaching and leadership, serve as the foundation for achieving successful outcomes for all students regardless of zip code.”

Even within New Haven’s school system, the results were often stratified by race and class, reflecting the barriers that exist outside the classroom.

In reading, there’s a 30.7‑point gap between white and black students and 27.2‑point gap between white and Hispanic students. And in math, there’s a 30.2‑point gap between white and black students and 27.5‑point gap between white and Hispanic students

Similarly, there’s 23-point gap in reading and a 21.8‑point gap in math between students growing up in poverty who qualify for a free lunch and their classmates.

Those disparities can show up in stark ways across the city’s public schools.

For instance, only 3.8% of students at Augusta Lewis Troup School are on grade level in math, while 68.6% of students at Worthington Hooker are. Similarly, only 12% of students at Lincoln-Bassett Community School are on grade level in reading, while 76.7% at Worthington Hooker are.

On the whole, though, over the last four years, most of the city’s public schools have been moving in the right direction, showing sustained progress in boosting the portion of students who are on grade level.

Two schools, L.W. Beecher Museum School and John S. Martinez Sea & Sky STEM School, notched at least 10-point gains in both reading and math proficiency rates. Truman School also made 8‑point gains in both reading and math.

Clinton Avenue School moved the most in reading, going up by 17.3 points, while Beecher moved the most in math, going up by 15.5 points.

But during the same time period, five schools moved backwards. West Rock Author’s Academy, Brennan Rogers School, Lincoln Bassett, King-Robinson and Augusta Lewis Troup all lost points in both reading and math.

Among the city’s charters, Amistad Academy and Elm College Preparatory, the two schools in the Achievement First network, both saw gains of 0.8 and 1.7 points in reading and 2 and 9.6 points in math, respectively.

Booker T. Washington Academy, a state-approved charter, and Elm City Montessori, a district-approved charter, are both still adding classes, making comparisons to previous years difficult.

The state also measures how much students are growing over time, giving a fairer comparison of how much they’ve actually learned in a school year, regardless of where they started.

It does that by setting an individual target score for each student, which generally would allow them to catch up to grade level within five years if they’re behind or stay slightly ahead if they’re already there.

On that growth measure, New Haven students met an average of 55.2% of their targets in reading, a 3.1‑point decline from last year, and 53.6 percent of their targets in math, the exact same as last year.

That rate comes a lot closer to the state’s performance. Across Connecticut, students met an average of 59.5% of their targets in reading and 62.5 percent of their targets in math.

But it’s behind the average of 60.2 percent of growth targets achieved that Superintendent Carol Birks had set as a goal in the district’s continuous improvement plan.

In a statement Birks pointed out that test scores are only one way to measure how teaching, but she applauded the district for the results it had achieved.

“I commend our faculty, staff, administration, and community for their efforts and commitment to our students. We will continue to analyze data and target instructional practices to improve student achievement,” she said. ​“As a district, we will continue to provide targeted professional learning, strengthen [whole class] Instruction and social-emotional learning supports and monitor progress to improve academic outcomes.”