New state system uses one number to rank schools

As published in the Record Journal Monday December 24, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

The state Department of Education released a new metric for student achievement this month, ranking each school on a scale of 0 to 100 with the new Student Performance Index.

Scores from the Connecticut Mastery Test and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test have been publicly available for years, but the new index averages the numbers over the past three years, taking into account all subjects and grades to create a single figure.

“The state’s new school accountability and support framework enables more precise, more helpful snapshots of school performance,” Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor said in a statement. “By heralding schools making significant progress and highlighting schools in need of greater support, the system will also help districts and the state focus our efforts where they are needed most.”

Unlike metrics under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the new system takes into account graduation rates and student growth in scores, even if they don’t reach a predetermined goal.

State officials have set a goal of all schools eventually reaching a score of 88, which means most students scored at or above the goal level on the CMT and the CAPT. A score of 67 or higher means most students scored at the proficient level on the tests.

Locally, scores in Cheshire and Southington, on average, surpassed 88.

Southington School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi Jr. said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the district’s scores. “What we thought was happening in the schools equated to a fine performance,” he said.

But Erardi said he has concerns about how the new metric will be rolled out over the next few years. The measurement will play a significant role in new teacher evaluations that are a part of the state’s sweeping education reform legislation.

Cheshire School Superintendent Greg Florio said he wasn’t surprised by the district’s results.

“We’ve been monitoring our test results forever and I knew our scores would be fairly strong,” he said.

In Wallingford, all elementary schools were within a point or two of the state goal, except for Parker Farms School, which scored 76.8. The middle schools scored in the high 80s, while Lyman Hall High School posted a 78.9 and Sheehan High School posted an 81.4.

Wallingford School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said he was pleased that there wasn’t a large gap in scores among the district’s schools.

“We don’t have pockets of excellence or pockets of need,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of disparity.”

Meriden schools performed the lowest locally, with only three schools scoring higher than 67: Israel Putnam, Thomas Hooker and Lincoln Middle. Hooker scored the highest, at 86.1.

But Meriden Superintendent Mark D. Benigni said it was important parents and others “don’t get too caught up in the test scores.” Several city schools, including Hanover and Casmir Pulaski, were recognized for the growth students had made in their scores. Benigni said the scores help school officials to know where to allocate resources such as reading specialists, but a higher number doesn’t mean one school is better than another.

“It’s not just scores,” he said. “You have to look at parent involvement, climate, culture and the extracurricular opportunities the school provides.”

Joseph Cirasuolo, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents and a former Wallingford school superintendent, said the new number is a “step in the right direction,” but parents shouldn’t make snap decisions about schools using the figure.

“You can’t make final judgments based on that number,” he said. “You need to look at what’s behind it.”