State Releases CMT And CAPT Score Results

By Eliza Hallabeck

This week the State of Connecticut released both the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) results and the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) results, and Newtown’s results varied between the grade levels.

“We certainly are pleased with our sixth and seventh grade, and third grade also,” said Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson on Wednesday, July 13, just hours after results from the CMT’s administered in the last school year were released.

Dr Robinson also spoke to the Board of Education at its meeting on Tuesday, July 13, regarding this year’s CAPT results. She reported roughly 50 more students took the CAPT this year over last year.

In all areas of CAPT, Dr Robinson noted Newtown was above the state testing average.

The CAPT evaluates students in their sophomore year of high school and tests students in math, science, reading, and writing. This year Newtown students consistently scored higher than the state average, with 68.5 percent of students meeting or above the goal and 94.4 percent of students above the proficiency level in math, 62.6 percent of students meeting goal and 93.4 percent of students meeting proficiency in science, 67 percent of students meeting goal and 94.5 percent of students meeting proficiency in reading, and 78.1 percent of students meeting goal and 96.7 percent of students meeting proficiency standards in writing.

The CMT is given to students in third through eighth grade and tests the students in math, reading, writing, and, for some grade levels, science.

While students in third, sixth, and seventh grade showed nearly consistent improvement over last year’s test results, students in fifth grade showed decreases in some areas from last year’s fifth grade students. While the fifth grade group showed a small improvement in writing over last year’s fifth grade, scores in reading showed a decrease.

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Gejda will evaluate the results of both the CMT and CAPT and prepare a full presentation, examining Newtown compared to its state determined District Reference Group and to past year’s testing results, for the school board in September.

Further information on both Newtown and the state’s results on the CAPT and CMT is available www.ctreports.com.