A Message to Parents From Madison Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice

A message from Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice.

“Last week, parents of students in grades 4-9 and grade 11, were mailed home individual CMT and CAPT reports of the tests taken last school year. We are obligated to share this information with you. However, parents are cautioned to consider this as limited in its value, particularly due to the small number of districts participating in the sunset standardized tests, and the fact that the standards that were tested last spring are dated.

Last year, Connecticut was in a transition year moving from the current state test, the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT), to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium test (SBAC). The CMT and CAPT measure student achievement on Connecticut’s former standards in language arts, math, and science. The SBAC measures student achievement on Connecticut’s new standards in language arts and math, which is nationally referred to as the Common Core State Standards.

Connecticut school districts will begin administering the SBAC tests (grades 3- 8, and 11) in the areas of math and language arts during the last few months of the current school year. Until new science standards are adopted by the state, all school districts in Connecticut must also continue to administer the CMT and CAPT science tests in grades 5, 8 and 10 every March. Further communication about the schedules and testing windows will be provided in late winter.

As indicated in correspondence sent home last year, Madison made the determination to administer the legacy CMT/CAPT assessments last spring, while 90% of the state participated in the SBAC field test. Based on the feedback around the state, we are pleased with this determination. We are confident that we made a sound decision to protect our students from any potential negative experience in the field test due for a variety of reasons.

The Madison Public Schools are approaching the Common Core with a thoughtful analysis of the potential efficacy and appropriateness of each individual standard as the standards are integrated into our local curriculum. We are pleased with the progress we are making with this analytical approach to writing curriculum for our specific district, a curriculum that first prioritizes our district vision, while that carefully approaching Madison’s application of the Common Core. In addition, the district is in the process of creating local assessments that go beyond the bounds of the Common Core and focus on the outcomes in our district vision for 21st Century education. There is more to the story of student success beyond the implementation of the common core.

Throughout the year, students will be exposed to some practice situations to prepare them for their first experience with the state mandated online assessment (SBAC). The objective is to be humane, and to simply provide the appropriate amount of practice for our students to establish a comfort level with the test, while also becoming familiar with the online tools necessary to perform on the test. The objective is not “test prep”, and the district will work to minimize instructional time lost to establish this comfort level for our students. If you would like more information about the SBAC please visit the website: http://www.smarterbalanced.org

If you have any questions regarding your child’s CMT/CAPT scores, feel free to contact your building principal or Gail Dahling-Hench.”

Sincerely Yours,

Thomas Scarice
Superintendent of Schools