Update: Barlow, Weston CAPT Scores Strong Against State

Update 2:45 p.m.

Tom McMorran, principal of Joel Barlow High School, spoke with Patch about the CAPT results.

"The CAPT scores are one indicator of the strength of our school's academic programming. It is important to view them in that context," McMorran wrote in an email. "We get the best picture of how our students are progressing from our in-house analysis of their classroom grades, their SAT scores, the junior and senior classes AP scores, and the ACT scores.

"Our goal has always been to educate the entire person, not only in the areas that are assessed, but also in the fine and performing arts, wellness, character development and community-mindednedness, which means we want to see students being admitted on their own merit to the National Honor Society, earning their Eagle badges and Gold Awards in boy scouts and girl scouts, being admitted to the colleges they want to attend, and achieving on the competitive sports fields and on the stage," he continued.

McMorran said that because they "have been designed to draw the attention of the public, the CAPT scores play an additional role of letting us know how we are performing in comparison to our demographic reference group (DRG A), and the state." 

"We are pleased with our students' achievement," he wrote. "This reflects a growing capacity among the teaching staff to make effective use of data in order to monitor and adjust instruction."

McMorran said it's important to make sure teachers do not teach to the test.

Original article:

Keeping with the trend of current years, and students' Connecticut Aptitude Performance Test scores were head and shoulders above their statewide peers, while comparing favorably among the other Fairfield County high schools in their district reference group (DRG).

The CAPT, administered each year to some 40,000 tenth graders statewide, consists of eight hours of multiple choice and free response questions. Students who fail to score at or above the state-mandated proficiency level are required to retest in grades 11 and/or 12. Students are tested in math, science, reading across the disciplines and writing across the disciplines.

Weston's results

Weston's performance in science, reading and writing dipped — down 6.2, 3.1 and 4.5 percent respectively — in students achieving the state's goal. (It should be noted the school's scores remained unchanged or dipped slightly when measured against the state's goal for achieving proficiency.)

The tests aren't apples-to-apples comparisons in the fact that different students are taking them: The Class of 2013 took the tests in 2011, while the Class of 2012 took the tests the year before.

Phil Schaefer, chairman of the Weston Board of Education, said the board had yet to look at the results, as "the process is that the administration will review the results, do some analysis of [them] and present the findings to the board during one of our fall monthly meetings."

But even though that's the case, Schaefer said, in the past, a few students' scores could change the Weston results.

"I do know that in the past, since we are such a small school system (and the results of similar DRG-A towns are relatively within a range of each other), that if a handful of students didn't do that well on the CAPT tests, it could make the difference of whether we're #1 or number #4 ... on a particular test," Schaefer wrote in an email to Patch. "Also, this really should not be viewed or used as a competition between the towns."

Weston ranked first in the DRG in achieving the science goal, science proficiency and writing proficiency.

What follows are Weston's CAPT scores for 2010 and 2011:

WESTON VS. STATE (2010 + 2011)

Percent of students performing at goal or proficient levels. Year over year changes in parentheses.

Barlow's scores

Barlow's scores increased across the board in all four subjects tested, most notably with a 9.3 percent increase in the students' math scores.

“I am happy to see the efforts of the Barlow administration, staff, teachers, and especially the students have resulted in such fine scores,” said Mark Lewis, chairman of the Region 9 Board of Education.

Barlow ranked first in the DRG for math proficiency and first in achieving the state's goal for writing.

What follows are Barlow's CAPT scores for 2010 and 2011:

BARLOW VS. STATE (2010 + 2011)

Percent of students performing at goal or proficient levels. Year over year changes in parentheses.

WESTON AND BARLOW VS. DISTRICT REFERENCE GROUP A

Percent of students performing at goal or proficient levels. Reference group ranks in parentheses.