Student Achievement Gap Widens in Greenwich

After a six-week delay, the state of Connecticut on Tuesday, released the test results students who took the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) and the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) and Greenwich public school officials have a mixed reaction to how local students performed.

Greenwich School Superintendent William McKersie said that on a whole, Greenwich students “scored well above the state average and are above goal.” However, officials are concerned that the achievement gap —the test scores earned by students who do not receive subsidized lunches versus their peers who receive subsidized lunches—grew.

Eighty-five percent of Greenwich students in grades 3 through 8 and 10th grade had scores that were at least 80 percent of goal.

“For 85 percent of our students, they are performing very, very high according to state standards,” McKersie said. “But for 50 percent of the students with the free or reduced lunch are not. We are disappointed and concerned that the achievement gap has widened.” About 15 percent of Greenwich students participate in the free or reduced-price lunch program.

“It’s too early in Greenwich for us to figure out why we dropped … to understand what’s happening,” McKersie explained. Until this year, the district has made gradual headway in closing that achievement gap. He said school officials received test scores from the state education department on Aug. 9—results that were embargoed for release or public discussion until 3 p.m. Aug. 13.

“This is an opportunity to look at the data and come up with strategies going forward,” said Irene Parisi, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction, and professional learning. Parisi said that the Greenwich District Data Team met yesterday and will continue to do so throughout the school year to evaluate the date and determine “how they can improve the scores … and how do we help our teachers focus on the most effective instructional practices.”

An analysis of the scores—including a school-by-school breakdown—will be available for the Sept. 19 Board of Education work session, officials said.

In grades 3 to 5, the achievement gaps widened in all four testing areas: reading, writing, mathematics and science.

In grades 6 through 8, the gaps widened in writing, mathematics and science while closing a bit for reading.

For 10th-grade students, the gap widened across the board.

Here is the link to the statewide results and how Greenwich students performed.

For a look at the school district’s analysis of student performance, it can be found in the PDF below.