West Hartford Shows Gains on CMT, Dip on CAPT

West Hartford students performed very well on the 2012 Connecticut Mastery Tests, according to information released Thursday from the State Department of Education.

"Our CMT scores are excellent. We saw our highest CMT scores ever with overall results averaging 79.7 percent, an increase in excess of 1.1 percent from last year's average of 78.6 percent," said Assistant Superintendent for Instruction and Curriculum Dr. Eileen Howley.  

This is the second year in a row that West Hartford not had any scores in the 60's.  

In her initial analysis, Howley pointed out that, "Scores ranged from a low of 72.0 percent in grade 3 reading to a high of 87.2 percent in grade 7 reading. We saw the highest scores ever on 10 of the 18 tests (in reading in grades 3, 4, 5, and 8, and in writing in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8)." 

A complete report will be presented to the Board of Education in the fall. However, Howley said, "These scores are a reflection of our collaborative approach, of the high quality teaching, dynamic curriculum, and the leadership of our schools."

Results on the 2012 CAPT were not as strong, with a district average of 67.1 percent at mastery compared to 69.9 percent for 2011.

Howley's preliminary analysis pointed out that Conard's 2011 results had been exemplary. In 2012, Conard's results showed decreases in all subject areas, down 6.0 percent to 64.7 percent. Howley said that in most cases, Conard's scores returned to pre-2011 levels.

At Hall, Howley indicated that scores improved slightly, from 69.6 percent to 70.1 percent, with increases in both mathematics and reading.

It is important to note that it is a different group of students taking the test at each grade level. In addition, this year's 10th grade class at both Conard and Hall is a significantly smaller group than the class that took the 2011 test.

When an indepth analysis is presented to the Board of Education, it will also include cohort analysis, which follows the performance of the same group of students as they progress through the grades.

"We will continue to examine these results to inform our ongoing efforts at continuous improvement of our curriculum and instruction," Howley said.

In releasing the CMT and CAPT test scores for invididual districts this year, the state Department of Educaiton said that statewide CMT scores – given to students in grades 3 through 8 – improved incrementally while CAPT performance – administered to 10th-graders and required for graduation – was mixed.

"While student performance increased in all content areas when compared to the CAPT baseline year of 2007, it decreased in some areas when compared to last year," the department said in a news release. "As compared to 2011, performance increased slightly in writing, remained relatively constant in science and reading, and decreased in mathematics."

Note: the following table does not reflect CMT science scores from fifth and eighth grades.

West Hartford CMT test scores

West Hartford CAPT Scores

The full results and comparisons of the scores:

The entire CMT and CAPT scores report from the state is attached to this article as a PDF.