Though Some Drop —

Mastery Scores Viewed As Encouraging

By Jeff White

A decrease in a few subjects notwithstanding, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Robert Kuklis remained encouraged this week about Newtown’s performance in the 1999 Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT), a statewide standardized measure of student performance in reading, writing and mathematics.

“Overall, we are pleased with the results,” Dr Kuklis said, commenting on the improvement in six sections of the exam. “We’re in good shape.”

The test is taken by fourth-, sixth- and eighth-graders each fall, over the course of eight school days, with some time worked in for make-up tests.

In most sections, this year’s scores continued a six-year trend of improvement. In mathematics, 80 percent of fourth-graders reached predetermined goals, up from 77 percent last year. Seventy-six percent of sixth-grade test-takers reached goal, compared to 71 percent last year. The eighth grade, however, saw a slight drop in math scores from last year; whereas 75 percent reached goal last year, 72 percent were at that level this year. Dr Kuklis explained this drop as a result of an upswing in the math curriculum at the middle school, which is making use of a new textbook.

The “Degrees of Reading Power” section of the language arts test saw slight improvement over last year with 74 percent of fourth graders and 84 percent of sixth graders meeting goal, up from 72 percent and 81 percent, respectively. The eighth grade was down three percentage points this year with 86 percent at goal. Dr Kuklis explained that the district did not view this drop as significant since the eighth grade’s reading scores were still “extremely high.”

But there was cause for concern regarding scores for the writing section, specifically a significant drop in the fourth grade’s performance this year. Sixty-six percent reached goal, down from 73 percent last year.

“We’re upset with that,” Dr Kuklis commented, adding that the slip reflected a poor performance from one elementary school. “The test is an indication that we’re not getting the writing performance out of our students that we should.”

This drop has caused school administrators to take a closer look at the third grade writing curriculum to see what teaching strategies could be used to give greater attention to writing. Still, teachers realize the difficulty that the CMT writing section poses for students. Since it is timed, it cannot completely capture the writing process, because students have the opportunity for revisions when tackling a writing assignment for homework.

In both sixth and eighth grades, writing scores improved over last year. Seventy percent of sixth graders met goal, up from 65 percent, and 78 percent of eighth graders achieved goal, up from 77 percent.

A reality that underscores this year’s test results is that Newtown students perform better on the exam the longer they stay in the school district. In both the sixth and eighth grades, students performed better on each section when compared to the last time they took the exam. Each grade level saw an average eight-percent increase in each section from the last time they sat the test.

Whereas this year’s sixth grade saw 84 percent of its students reach goal in the reading section, only 72 percent of these students reached goal when they last took the exam two school years ago. Such significant increases were also common for the eighth grade. The 86 percent of students who reached goal this year can be compared to the 73 percent who reached goal in the reading section when they took it in 1997 as sixth graders.

Statewide, the exam has come under scrutiny of late regarding the practice of “teaching to the test,” when some schools design curriculum to optimize exam performance.

“The teaching has to go beyond the test,” Dr Kuklis said. “[Scores will] ceiling out if you focus too much on the test.”

For the district’s part, the solution has been tailoring a curriculum so that the general skills tested by the CMT are part of a student’s everyday learning, instead of emphasizing specific test questions. Fourth, sixth and eighth grades are prepped for the test by becoming familiar with the testing format and practicing timed writing. Moreover, the test period of roughly two weeks begins each year with a practice exam.

The school system is still awaiting the official data supplied by the Connecticut Department of Education, which places the scores in the context of Educational Reference Groups (ERG). When the district receives this information, it will have a better picture at how this year’s student performance compares to other schools in Newtown’s ERG.

Dr Kuklis will present the scores formally to the Board of Education later this month.