West Hartford's Overall CMT Scores Highest Ever

West Hartford students performed very well on this year's Connecticut Mastery Tests, according to information released Wednesday from the State Department of Education.

"We saw our highest CMT scores ever with overall results averaging 78.6 percent at the goal level – an increase in excess of 1 percent from last year’s average of 77.6 percent," said Dr. Karen List, Superintendent of .

According to List, scores in West Hartford ranged from a low of 71.5 percent in grade 3 reading to a high of 86.6 percent in grade 7 reading.

"This is the first year we have not had any scores in the 60’s," List said. This year's test takers also recorded the highest scores ever on 10 of the 18 tests – in reading in grade 3, 4, and 6, in writing in grade 4, 5, and 6, and in math in grade 3, 4, 6, and 8.

"We are analyzing individual scores to assist us in planning for students in the fall," said List. "These excellent results are due to the collaborative, focused work of our teachers and school leaders."

Across the state, Connecticut students fared generally better than in 2010, according to the State Board of Education. This continued a trend of incremental improvement over previous years. CMTs assess 250,000 students on their application of skills and knowledge in the academic content areas of mathematics, reading and writing in grades 3 through 8, and science in grades 5 and 8.

This year marks the sixth administration of the Fourth Generation CMT, which was first administered in March 2006.

The CMT has five student performance levels for each content area tested: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, Goal and Advanced. The Proficient level is used to identify schools and districts that are making “Adequate Yearly Progress” under No Child Left Behind. The Goal level, more challenging than the Proficient level, is the state target for student performance.

For a complete report of CMT results, click here.