Mastery Test Report Rosy

The Board of Education literally applauded Monday night after hearing a presentation of the public school district's results on the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT). The district met all of the board's goals as 90 percent of students met or exceeded state standards and scores showed evidence of continuous growth toward advanced performance.

"This is our strongest overall performance to date,"said Deputy Superintendent Mary Kolek, noting that Madison had even mentioned New Canaan in its press release on the standardized tests as the best in the state with regard to frequency of top-ten performances. 

New Canaan was number one this year compared to the eight other districts in its reference group in six out of 20 CMT sub-tests with third and fourth graders scoring first in reading, third, fourth, and fifth, graders first in writing, and eighth graders first in science. 

Boys are also catching up with girls in terms of test performance in general. There's still a gap in third grade which Kolek says is expected due to variations between genders at that age. Administrators are examining a gap in grades 7 and 8.

"The gap opens up in writing, which is the same pattern as what is seen nationally," Kolek said.  

Administrators are also continuing analyze data with regard to variability between the elementary schools. 

Nonetheless, Kolek said students are well prepared for reaching high school. 

"By the time we take them to grade 8, we're topping out."

92.5 percent of eighth graders met state goals in math, 93 percent in reading, and 91.7 percent in writing. 

Those numbers left board members wondering how the district could continue to improve as is now required by federal law. 

"With the fact that No Child Left Behind pegs us with increasing performance over time, how do we do that?," board chair Kathy Smith asked. 

Kolek said the district would have to be sure to meet the needs of special education students and the increasing numbers of English language learners that the federal government pays particular attention to. 

"We want to move those students up too," she said. "Whether we move fast enough for those national targets, it's hard to tell." 

All the good news left the usually vocal board members practically speechless. 

"I don't know what to say, I feel like a baseball fan whose team always wins," said board member Nick Williams. 

But he echoed the sentiments of other board members in saying the district's success isn't just luck. 

"It takes a commitment on the part of this community to maintain this as the top school system," he said. 

The board was troubled by the enrollment and staff utilization report that followed the CMT Powerpoints. After the board had conceded to staff cuts in the midst of a town budget crunch, 88 sections are over the district's class-size guidelines.