STAMFORD CMT RESULTS 2011- CMT shows mixed results for Stamford students, progress at middle schools
CMT shows mixed results for Stamford students, progress at middle schools
Connecticut Mastery Test results released by the State Department of Education this week reveal significant improvements in Stamford students' math and science scores, with mixed results in reading and writing.
The test, administered to roughly 250,000 students throughout Connecticut in March, assesses students in grades three through eight in math, reading and writing. Additionally, fifth- and eighth-grade students are tested in science. Students scores are split into five levels -- below basic, basic, proficient, goal and advanced.
Many of the scores jump from last year to this year, with the percentage of students reaching goal in math increasing at three grade levels and decreasing at three others, with reading increasing in four and decreasing in two, and writing increasing in two and decreasing in four and science increasing in one while decreasing in the other.
But the overall trend over the past six years since the fourth-generation CMT was introduced in 2006 remains positive in the long-term view for Stamford schools, as with the state.
MATH
According to state data, the percentage of third-grade students meeting goal in mathematics has jumped 7 percent since 2006, which means that about 2,870 more third-grade students are meeting goal now than in the baseline year. There is a similar trend in Stamford, where the percentage of students reaching goal in third-grade math has increased from 52.6 percent in 2006 to 59.3 percent in 2011, a 6.7 percent leap.
For Stamford, 2006 is more than just the baseline against which the state measures improvement in CMT scores. In 2006, the GE Foundation announced it would give Stamford Public Schools $15.3 million over five years to help improve math and science curriculum and to provide new forms of professional development to support teachers in the endeavor.
Math scores have improved at every grade level for Stamford students over the six-year span, with significant gains in the middle schools, where the percentage of sixth-grade students reaching goal has increased by 23.4 percent, along with 14 percent and 6.2 percent jumps in the seventh and eight grades, respectively.
"I'm very impressed and pleased with the math," Acting Superintendent Winifred Hamilton said Wednesday. "We've put a lot of time, effort and money around our plan for math."
In the 2007-08 school year, the district began a new curriculum, Everyday Math, in kindergarten through second grades; it was rolled out to older elementary students in subsequent years.
While sixth-grade students are now learning with the Connected Math Curriculum, they were some of the first elementary-school students to learn with Everyday Math as fourth graders. This year, those sixth-grade students had the district's strongest overall performance in their math scores, with 71.3 percent of students meeting the state's goal, compared to 71.6 percent of students statewide. It was the closest any group of students came to catching up with the state averages in any subject this year.
SCIENCE
The state began testing fifth- and eighth-grade students in science in 2008. Since then, science scores have increased at both grade levels. In 2008, 47.3 percent of Stamford's fifth-grade students reached goal in science, along with 44.6 percent of eighth-grade students. The four years since have brought Stamford a 2.3 percent increase in fifth-grade achievement and a 5.4 percent increase in eighth-grade achievement.
This trend includes a bump in the road this year, when the percentage of fifth-grade students who made goal decreased from last year. In 2010, 51.7 percent of students met the mark. In 2011, the figure is down to 49.6 percent, the first time fewer than half of Stamford's fifth-grade population has made goal since 2008. Eighth graders improved by 0.3 percent this year over last.
No significant gains were seen in science statewide this year. In 2010, 60 percent of fifth-grade science students throughout Connecticut reached goal, along with 63 percent of eighth graders. Those levels remained unchanged this year.
READING and WRITING
In 2010, the GE Foundation announced its plans to award Stamford Public Schools an additional $10.4 million, much of which was earmarked to improve literacy curriculum in the district. This school year, the district created new positions, literacy coaches, to help with the initiative.
After one test cycle, the test scores lack signs of significant improvement.
The coaches are still learning how to coach, Hamilton said, just as students are still acquainting themselves with the new workshop model used to teach reading and writing.
"The second year, we've found, we're better at it. The teachers learn form their experiences. Teachers are very quick to learn, but the first year's implementation is always the learning year," she said.
The percentage of third- and fourth-grade students who met goal in reading increased by 2.1 points and 3.1 points over last year, respectively. But fifth- and sixth-grade students are meeting the standard at a lower rate than in years' past, with 11.2 percent fewer fifth-graders making goal this year than last, along with 1.7 percent fewer sixth-graders. In seventh- and eighth-grade, the improvements return, with a 0.7 percent and 1.3 percent jump, respectively.
But when all six years are taken into account, middle-school students have improved significantly in reading, with a 9.8 percent uptick in students meeting goal in sixth grade, and 5.6 percent and 8.1 percent increases in seventh and eighth grade, respectively.
In writing, only two grade levels had increased achievement at the goal level when compared to last year: there was a 0.3 percent increase among third-grade students and a 0.4 percent increase among eighth-grade students.
Over the six-cycle period since 2006, the district has lost ground at four of six grade levels tested, with a 7.9 percent dip in the percent of seventh-grade students meeting goal this year since 2006. This year's seventh-grade class had the district's weakest overall performance in its writing scores, with only 48.4 percent of students meeting goal.
"In seventh-grade writing, I wish I knew what happened there," Hamilton said. "We need to really dig into the data and examine that."
While fewer students reached goal this year than last in seventh-grade reading, the percentage of students who reached proficiency increased by 2 percentage points over last year, up to 73.6 percent.
It's likely a complicated issue, said Chief Academic Officer Mona Hanna, likening the process of supporting students' learning to "3-D chess," with many moving parts.
While middle-school writing achievement has fluctuated, elementary students have dropped across the grade levels. The percentage of Stamford's third-grade students meeting goal in writing has dropped by 0.6 percent in six years, along with a 4.5 percent and 6 percent slip in fourth and fifth grades, respectively.
HOW STAMFORD STACKS UP
Stamford's progress in writing matches the statewide trend over that time span, during which writing scores have increased in grades four, five, six and eighth, while seventh grade scores have dipped and third-grade scores have remained flat.
Sixth grade was the only level at which more Stamford students hit the state's target than any of the other school districts in its district reference group, DRG H, which includes Ansonia, Danbury, Derby, East Hartford, Meriden, Norwalk, Stamford and West Haven.
This year, 71.3 percent of sixth-grade students met goal in math, 1.9 percent more than Ansonia, DRG H's second-highest performing school in that section. The 68 percent of students who made goal in reading was slightly higher than the 67.8 percent that did so in Norwalk, and the 59.2 percent of students that hit goal in writing was the second highest in the DRG, coming in behind Ansonia, where 63.7 percent of students met the mark.
The only grade to increase across subjects was third grade, where the percentage of students that met goal in math increased by 0.5 percent, while reading climbed by 2.1 percent points and writing by 0.3 percent. The pace at which third-graders are moving toward goal is faster than the state's in both math and writing, when comparing the last five years, according to data provided by Stamford Public Schools. This year's third-grade class also outperformed peers in their DRG in reading.
Staff writer Maggie Gordon can be reached at maggie.gordon@scni.com or 203-964-2229.
The test, administered to roughly 250,000 students throughout Connecticut in March, assesses students in grades three through eight in math, reading and writing. Additionally, fifth- and eighth-grade students are tested in science. Students scores are split into five levels -- below basic, basic, proficient, goal and advanced.
Many of the scores jump from last year to this year, with the percentage of students reaching goal in math increasing at three grade levels and decreasing at three others, with reading increasing in four and decreasing in two, and writing increasing in two and decreasing in four and science increasing in one while decreasing in the other.
But the overall trend over the past six years since the fourth-generation CMT was introduced in 2006 remains positive in the long-term view for Stamford schools, as with the state.
MATH
According to state data, the percentage of third-grade students meeting goal in mathematics has jumped 7 percent since 2006, which means that about 2,870 more third-grade students are meeting goal now than in the baseline year. There is a similar trend in Stamford, where the percentage of students reaching goal in third-grade math has increased from 52.6 percent in 2006 to 59.3 percent in 2011, a 6.7 percent leap.
For Stamford, 2006 is more than just the baseline against which the state measures improvement in CMT scores. In 2006, the GE Foundation announced it would give Stamford Public Schools $15.3 million over five years to help improve math and science curriculum and to provide new forms of professional development to support teachers in the endeavor.
Math scores have improved at every grade level for Stamford students over the six-year span, with significant gains in the middle schools, where the percentage of sixth-grade students reaching goal has increased by 23.4 percent, along with 14 percent and 6.2 percent jumps in the seventh and eight grades, respectively.
"I'm very impressed and pleased with the math," Acting Superintendent Winifred Hamilton said Wednesday. "We've put a lot of time, effort and money around our plan for math."
In the 2007-08 school year, the district began a new curriculum, Everyday Math, in kindergarten through second grades; it was rolled out to older elementary students in subsequent years.
While sixth-grade students are now learning with the Connected Math Curriculum, they were some of the first elementary-school students to learn with Everyday Math as fourth graders. This year, those sixth-grade students had the district's strongest overall performance in their math scores, with 71.3 percent of students meeting the state's goal, compared to 71.6 percent of students statewide. It was the closest any group of students came to catching up with the state averages in any subject this year.
SCIENCE
The state began testing fifth- and eighth-grade students in science in 2008. Since then, science scores have increased at both grade levels. In 2008, 47.3 percent of Stamford's fifth-grade students reached goal in science, along with 44.6 percent of eighth-grade students. The four years since have brought Stamford a 2.3 percent increase in fifth-grade achievement and a 5.4 percent increase in eighth-grade achievement.
This trend includes a bump in the road this year, when the percentage of fifth-grade students who made goal decreased from last year. In 2010, 51.7 percent of students met the mark. In 2011, the figure is down to 49.6 percent, the first time fewer than half of Stamford's fifth-grade population has made goal since 2008. Eighth graders improved by 0.3 percent this year over last.
No significant gains were seen in science statewide this year. In 2010, 60 percent of fifth-grade science students throughout Connecticut reached goal, along with 63 percent of eighth graders. Those levels remained unchanged this year.
READING and WRITING
In 2010, the GE Foundation announced its plans to award Stamford Public Schools an additional $10.4 million, much of which was earmarked to improve literacy curriculum in the district. This school year, the district created new positions, literacy coaches, to help with the initiative.
After one test cycle, the test scores lack signs of significant improvement.
The coaches are still learning how to coach, Hamilton said, just as students are still acquainting themselves with the new workshop model used to teach reading and writing.
"The second year, we've found, we're better at it. The teachers learn form their experiences. Teachers are very quick to learn, but the first year's implementation is always the learning year," she said.
The percentage of third- and fourth-grade students who met goal in reading increased by 2.1 points and 3.1 points over last year, respectively. But fifth- and sixth-grade students are meeting the standard at a lower rate than in years' past, with 11.2 percent fewer fifth-graders making goal this year than last, along with 1.7 percent fewer sixth-graders. In seventh- and eighth-grade, the improvements return, with a 0.7 percent and 1.3 percent jump, respectively.
But when all six years are taken into account, middle-school students have improved significantly in reading, with a 9.8 percent uptick in students meeting goal in sixth grade, and 5.6 percent and 8.1 percent increases in seventh and eighth grade, respectively.
In writing, only two grade levels had increased achievement at the goal level when compared to last year: there was a 0.3 percent increase among third-grade students and a 0.4 percent increase among eighth-grade students.
Over the six-cycle period since 2006, the district has lost ground at four of six grade levels tested, with a 7.9 percent dip in the percent of seventh-grade students meeting goal this year since 2006. This year's seventh-grade class had the district's weakest overall performance in its writing scores, with only 48.4 percent of students meeting goal.
"In seventh-grade writing, I wish I knew what happened there," Hamilton said. "We need to really dig into the data and examine that."
While fewer students reached goal this year than last in seventh-grade reading, the percentage of students who reached proficiency increased by 2 percentage points over last year, up to 73.6 percent.
It's likely a complicated issue, said Chief Academic Officer Mona Hanna, likening the process of supporting students' learning to "3-D chess," with many moving parts.
While middle-school writing achievement has fluctuated, elementary students have dropped across the grade levels. The percentage of Stamford's third-grade students meeting goal in writing has dropped by 0.6 percent in six years, along with a 4.5 percent and 6 percent slip in fourth and fifth grades, respectively.
HOW STAMFORD STACKS UP
Stamford's progress in writing matches the statewide trend over that time span, during which writing scores have increased in grades four, five, six and eighth, while seventh grade scores have dipped and third-grade scores have remained flat.
Sixth grade was the only level at which more Stamford students hit the state's target than any of the other school districts in its district reference group, DRG H, which includes Ansonia, Danbury, Derby, East Hartford, Meriden, Norwalk, Stamford and West Haven.
This year, 71.3 percent of sixth-grade students met goal in math, 1.9 percent more than Ansonia, DRG H's second-highest performing school in that section. The 68 percent of students who made goal in reading was slightly higher than the 67.8 percent that did so in Norwalk, and the 59.2 percent of students that hit goal in writing was the second highest in the DRG, coming in behind Ansonia, where 63.7 percent of students met the mark.
The only grade to increase across subjects was third grade, where the percentage of students that met goal in math increased by 0.5 percent, while reading climbed by 2.1 percent points and writing by 0.3 percent. The pace at which third-graders are moving toward goal is faster than the state's in both math and writing, when comparing the last five years, according to data provided by Stamford Public Schools. This year's third-grade class also outperformed peers in their DRG in reading.
Staff writer Maggie Gordon can be reached at maggie.gordon@scni.com or 203-964-2229.
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