District 13 Test Scores: Room For Improvement

Recent test scores reveal a pattern that District 13 school officials are working to fix.

At its Nov. 9 meeting, the Board of Education was presented with an assessment of those scores -- including CMT (Connecticut Mastery Test) and CAPT (Connecticut Academic Performance Test) results -- which show that the district's students regularly score lower than about two-thirds of their District Reference Group (DRG) counterparts.

District 13 is part of DRG C, which includes Haddam-Killingworth, Canton and Tolland, as well as more than two dozen other school districts similar in size and student make-up.

"I was blown away when I got here," said Dr. Linda Berry, who took over this Fall as the district's director of curriculum, instruction and assessment. "People have this perception of Region 13. I think I expected the scores to be much better."

While tests scores generally improve by the time students are in high school, Berry and Superintendent Susan Viccaro said the district does not appear to be keeping up with other school districts in their DRG.

"I think that if you look at the trend lines we're pretty consistent, but what we're not doing is we're not improving to the degree other districts are improving," Viccaro said.

"How many more opportunities would we be giving our kids if we were showing an increase in our scores from third grade on up," Viccaro asked. "That, to me, is really the central question here. What do we need to be doing differently?"

Berry, a former high school principal, was hired to help.

"The way I see it, school systems are either getting better or they're getting worse. I don't think people are standing still, so it needs to be the kind of thing where we have a plan in place and we're doing things so that we can measure achievement and growth for students," she said.

Berry, who compared her role to an orchestra conductor, said students, teachers and administrators all have a stake in achieving higher test scores.

"School improvement plans are only as good as what I'm going to give to the teachers and what the teachers are going to give to the students."

Board members seemed to appreciate Berry's blunt assessment of the scores.

"I'm thrilled to see this. I'm not happy with where we're at, but you don't get better unless you take a realistic look at yourself," said Karrie Flanagan.

Assessment of test scores has become more of a focus for administrators as they begin the transition to the Common Core State Standards, a new set of academic standards.

By next year, according to Berry, assessments will be tied to teachers, which Viccaro said she felt would further help guide the district in its effort to improve scores.

"I think that collectively that teachers realize that we have not been doing what we need to be doing and they want to get us there. I'm very optimistic," Viccaro said.

Berry is equally as optimistic.

"We have great kids. We have good teachers. My feeling is let's let them shine."