Falcone: Test Results 'Positive,' But Some Dips Seen

Responding to the recent release of scores from the 2010 Connecticut Mastery Test and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, Darien Superintendent of Schools Stephen Falcone said the results appeared promising but would face careful study at all levels of the district in the coming months.

"I see some generally positive trends in the testing, and there are areas where we've got to take a look more closely," Falcone told Patch on Friday. "If there are dips in the percentages, we want take a look at that."

The writing results, were particularly encouraging, Falcone said, but "we've had some fluctuations in the reading. ... We had some positive growth last year, and there was a little regression, and we want to take a look at that."

The superintendent also pointed to science test results in the tenth grade, where the percentage of students scoring at or above goal range dipped from 73.6 in 2009 to 66.8 this year.

The CMT, which is taken by more than 240,000 public school students in grades 3 through 8, consists of seven hours of testing over the month of March. Students are graded on a scale of 1 ("below basic") to 5 ("advanced") on each section. Though the test is not pass/fail, Connecticut sets a goal range and a proficiency level for each grade and subject.

The CAPT is administered only to tenth graders—some 40,000 statewide—and 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.

As in past years, the results from Darien's 2500-plus test-takers were considerably stronger than those of the state as a whole, but a handful of significant fluctuations were apparent in either direction. The rates of sixth and seventh grade scoring at proficiency or at goal level were up over 2009, while those in the tenth grade generally slipped.

But one aspect of the testing not obvious from the top-level data is how cohorts—or groups of particular students—perform on the CMT from one year to the next. Falcone said recent trendlines for this measure were generally "very positive."

"Of the 15 cohort areas we looked at, there has been growth in 13 of the 15," Falcone said.

District administrators, school administrators, and teachers will begin looking at the data at a number of different levels, Falcone added, from Darien-wide results down to the individual student. Parents haven't even received their children's scores yet, however, so the process is still at an early stage.

Falcone also emphasized that standardized test results are only one snapshot of student performance and would be taken in conjunction with other assessments and teacher observations to measure student progress.

As they did last year, Falcone said district administrators will likely deliver a detailed report of the district's test results—including Advanced Placement and SAT tests—to the Board of Education in September.