CAPT Scores Rise; SAT Results Mixed

By Larissa Lytwyn

Newtown High School Assistant Principal Lorrie Aresenian reported well-above-goal Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) scores and slightly varied Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) averages in her Standardized Test Scores presentation to the school board January 6.

Administered each spring to high school sophomores’ statewide, CAPT, consisting of four sections –– mathematics, science, reading, and writing –– is considered largely congruent with classroom curriculum. The CAPT will become a graduation requirement beginning with 2003’s test-takers, the Class of 2006.

Students scored well above state and national proficiency levels, achieving particularly high numbers in the test’s writing portion in which 74 percent of 2003 test-takers were at or above goal levels compared to 62 percent in 2002.

Students’ scores rose in all four academic areas; 48 percent met all four at-goal or above requirements in 2003 compared to 38 percent in 2002.

Ms Aresenian addressed media reports that Newtown was below the required 95 percent participation requirements for not only students classwide but in subgroups including students with disabilities, ethnic and gender minorities, the economically disadvantaged, and students learning English as a Second Language (ESL).

The participation rates are one of several standardized test criterion determined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), legislation intended to increase the academic “accountability” of public schools nationwide.

In 2003, only 39 of Newtown High School’s 44 special need students took the test, resulting in a below-95 percent participation rate.

“Three were in the process of being out-placed,” Ms Aresenian said. “Two were unable to take the test due to significant illness. These are factors outside our control.”

The No Child Left Behind Act is currently under fire from educational organizations including the Connecticut Education Association (CEA).

According to CEA President Rosemary Coyle and David Larson, executive director of the Connecticut Association of School Superintendents, NCLB is “imposing a bureaucratic layer of testing requirements” and needs to be amended to better address students’ “individual needs and learning styles.”

Newtown High School’s CAPT Improvement Plan includes continuing its practice of implementing writing assignments across the academic disciplines.

“I believe our practice of this is at least partially responsible for our increased writing score in 2003,” Ms Aresenian said.

Other initiatives includes using computer technology to gather and input relevant to longitudinal CAPT performance data as well as revisions to K–8 math and writing curriculum.

SAT Scores Mixed

Although SAT scoring has become increasingly controversial in recent years, Ms Aresenian assured that the test “continues to be an important consideration for admission into colleges and universities.”

Verbal mean scores for Newtown High School seniors who took the test this fall were 529, significantly lower than the 2001 (538) and 2002 (537) averages. The math score fell at its lowest point in five years, with a mean score of 533.

Ms Aresenian explained the decline by noting larger numbers of students are taking the ACT, which many consider a “little easier” than the SAT. Largely administered in the nation’s south and west, the ACT is being increasingly accepted in lieu of SAT scores at schools including Yale and Farleigh Dickenson universities.

The mean distributions are still far above state and local verbal (512, 507) and math averages (514, 519).

Though Newtown’s population has risen by more than 5,000 since 1990, its location outside of major cities and retail centers still defines it as a “rural” community.

“Look at our surrounding towns,” Ms Aresenian said. “Brookfield and Roxbury are small.” Danbury, she added, is not as populous as Bridgeport.

Newtown’s verbal and math scores of 529 and 533, respectively, are far above the national rural average of 497 and 501. Rural areas, in fact, comprised the lowest scores, followed by large, medium, and small cities. Top scorers lived in suburban areas.

 

Looking Ahead

“It’s important to maintain a consistent philosophy that while there is value in standardized tests and the information we obtain as a result,” said Ms Aresenian, “it is only one measurement of student learning.”

She encourages faculty and administrators to “take risks” and “make modifications to create new programs” that excite and enliven student performance.

It was also important, she said, to maintain a “small-school feeling” at Newtown High School despite its 1,600-and-growing student population.

“It’s also crucial to take the mystery out of [high school] graduation requirements,” Ms Aresenian noted. “We need to make this clear to everyone — students and faculty — earlier.” In addition to CAPT score requirements for the Class of 2006, Newtown High School graduation requirements include adequate information literacy, problem-solving ability, spoken communication proficiency, and written performance, as demonstrated through classroom achievement.