Schools Look Beyond Test-Score ​“Snapshot”

“What’s the first thing we have to do when we start a problem like this?” asks a Branford teacher in a video clip of a math class. 

“We have to understand it,” responds a fourth-grade boy.

“Understanding” was the crux of a 90-minute presentation at a Board of Education meeting last week. Branford’s superintendent and five school principals explained how students performed on standardized state tests and how the district intends to address low scores in reading and comprehension in some schools.

A quick look at the data shows that tenth grade students at Branford High School had the lowest percentage scoring at or above goal in reading in the past five years on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT). 

Results of the Connecticut Mastery Tests (CMT), administered yearly in grades three through eight, showed increases in some areas and deficiencies in others. There was also a disparity in test results among the three elementary schools, with Tisko School having a higher percentage of students scoring at or above goal in all categories. Murphy School had the lowest percentage of the three schools in all categories except one.

Administrators took time during the presentation to look at the big picture.

“We’ve trying to tell a story relative to growth over time,” Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez told the board. ​“It’s very, very easy to take snapshot data (of test scores) and put them in a list and say your scores went up five points or went down two points from last year. That really doesn’t contextualize it.”

So principals at the town’s elementary, intermediate and high schools used video clips of classes, graphs of test scores over a period of years, and sample test questions to help board members and the public understand the issues. The presentation will be shown on BCTV.
There was also talk about revising the curriculum.

“The aggressive revision and writing of curriculum will anchor us,” said Hernandez, who is beginning his second year at the helm. ​“We need to review programs. In a day and age when dollars are very scarce and very limited, we cannot hang onto programs that are not successful. And we should be reinforcing and expanding programs that are effective.”
Principals discussed ways to increase students’ understanding so they can ​“dig deeper” and develop higher levels of thinking.

Board president Frank Carrano expressed both appreciation and concern following the presentation. ​“Everything I’ve heard tonight is indicative of your real commitment to improving instruction and improving learning…and I applaud that,” Carrano said. ​“But for me, I find that I grow very impatient with long-term goals that don’t have a level of specificity that let me look at and quantify at the end of a period of time.”

Carrano asked administrators to set some concrete goals and bring some suggestions for reaching those goals to the November board meeting.
​“I’d like to be able to develop a budget that has some very specific elements that are designed to support instruction and student learning,” Carrano said.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Anthony Buono, principal at Mary T. Murphy School, said there were some similar trends in test score data for third and fourth graders at all three elementary schools.

“There were areas we were doing well in, and there were areas that are still challenging for our students,” Buono said, adding that gains have been made in some areas.

“The strengths are areas that are focused on memorization of facts and really concrete understanding,” Buono said. ​“Our challenges remain in those areas where our students are asked to apply these skills to different situations, or to think at higher levels.”

Hernandez (pictured) said students are showing improvement using the new math program, Investigations, which has been phased in since 2008. ​“Although we are progressing, we have some unevenness in the area of Mathematics. I attribute that to the fact that we are still in the throes of implementing a relatively new math program.”

Susan Iwanikci-Smith, the new principal at John B. Sliney School, said students did well on test questions dealing with basic math facts, addition, subtraction and multiplication. On one such question, Branford third graders responded correctly 100 percent of the time.

However, she said questions involving math application and language skills were more problematic. A sample question for third graders was:
​“Gino’s mother has 5 kinds of shoes in her closet. There are sneakers, flip-flops, boots, dress shoes and clogs. 18 pairs of shoes in all, twice as many pairs of flip-flops as pairs of boots; 3 pairs of sneakers, 2 more pairs of clogs than pairs of boots.” Students are asked to show how many pairs of each kind of shoe Gino’s mother could have in her closet.

On this question, Branford third graders responded correctly 68 percent of the time compared to 50 percent at the state level.

James O’Connor, the new principal at Mary R. Tisko School, said third and fourth graders in Branford and statewide had problems in a sub-category of reading when they were asked to make connections to the text.

The sample question was: ​“Think about someone who did something courageous. Tell how that experience was like the experience in the story. Think about what this story says about people in general. In what ways does it remind you of people you have read about? Support your answer with evidence from the story.”

On this question, 51 percent of Branford third graders responded correctly, compared to 52 percent at the state level. In fourth grade, 47 percent of Branford students responded correctly, compared to 52 percent at the state level.

Another question dealing with grammar resulted in similar low percentages, but Branford was higher than the state in correct responses.

“This is really not satisfactory,” Hernandez said, when half the students are unable to answer the questions correctly. ​“That’s just woefully low. … And it’s not about casting blame. It’s about identifying areas that require us to have structural focus, programmatic focus and, if need be, curriculum revision.”

To help address the problem, writers and readers workshops have been started to help increase skills in both areas.

“I am very anxious to see this time next year, what happens with our writers and readers workshop,” Hernandez said. ​“If that is a program and instructional strategy that will have an impact on our students, we would hope that the numbers start to change. And that’s a hard thing for a superintendent and administrators to say, but that is the reality. That is woefully low. Yet we have areas we are extremely proud of.”

WALSH INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL 

Principal Robin Goeler said reading scores at the intermediate school were not problematic, but writing scores were.

“We were very pleasantly surprised with our reading scores,” Goeler said. ​“Our reading comprehension scores were very strong. But we were conversely very disappointed with our writing scores….We came to the conclusion….that one of the main reasons for the writing scores going down was because we spend a great deal more time on reading.”

Goeler said math scores in fifth and sixth grades were very strong, which he attributed to the new Investigations program. However, he said math applications involving language skills were more problematic. ​“It’s about being able to solve problems and think critically,” he said, explaining that there are 25 different categories of math skills that are assessed on the state tests.

Goeler outlined various instructional strategies being used to raise scores, including small group or individual instruction. ​“In most cases, we see progress,” he said.

HIGH SCHOOL

Principal Lee Panagoulias said tenth grade CAPT scores decreased slightly this year in math and science, but there was a significant increase in writing scores in the past two years. However, it was the reading scores that gave concern.

In 2010, the percent of students scoring at or above goal in reading increased almost 8 points from the previous year, but in 2011, the scores fell 16 points. 

“We made a very significant increase last year (in 2010) and then took a very significant step backwards with this class,” Panagoulias said.

He said reading will continue be a focal point in all classes at the high school.

“If you look at reading across disciplines, and I want to stress across disciplines, this is not something that we focus on only in English, it’s something that we focus on in content areas and in elective areas,” Panagoulias said. ​“It’s a team effort. It’s a school-wide effort.”

He said he met with faculty at the beginning of the year and made plans to address the reading problems and to ​“push our students to dig deeper” in all courses.

“For students to be successful in any content area, there has to be proper vocabulary development, and there has to be reading comprehension strategies that are internalized in the students,” Panagoulias said. ​“If we focus on reading, we hopefully will see an increase in students’ performance in ….reading overall, but that it would also have an effect on our math and our science and a continuation in our improvement in writing.”

LOOKING AT THE DATA

The Eagle has been examining Branford’s test results on the State Department of Education Web site and has compiled the following analysis. Click here to review The CAPT and CMT results for all schools and districts. Most of this information was not discussed at last week’s board meeting, but it may have been discussed at committee level.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

On the CMT, there were marked differences among Branford’s three elementary schools for the percentage of students scoring at or above goal, as evidenced by the figures below.

In third grade math overall, there were 74.6 percent of the students scoring at or above goal. That breaks down to 90.5 percent at Tisko; 73.5 percent at Sliney; and 60.9 percent at Murphy.

In fourth grade math, the overall result was 75.7 percent at or above goal; with 92.2 percent at Tisko; 75.9 percent at Sliney; and 58 percent at Murphy.

In third grade reading overall, there were 66.7 percent scoring at or above goal, with 79.3 percent at Tisko; 65.2 percent at Sliney; and 55.7 percent at Murphy.

In fourth grade reading, the overall result was 60.4 percent; with 72.7 percent at Tisko; 51.9 percent at Sliney; and 53.2 percent at Murphy.

In third grade writing, the overall result was 62.6 percent; with 90.8 percent at Tisko; 47.8 percent at Sliney; and 46.5 percent at Murphy.

In fourth grade writing overall, 64.2 percent scored at or above goal; with 83.3 percent at Tisko; 60.3 percent at Sliney; and 47.6 percent at Murphy.

One of the factors that may affect Murphy is the higher number of economically disadvantaged students. The test considers students to be disadvantaged if they qualify for the free or reduced-cost lunch program. The test results shown at Murphy are typical of economically disadvantaged students statewide.

The State Department of Education breaks down results according to subgroups when there are 20 or more students in a category. In the third grade overall, 54 of the total 240 students qualified as disadvantaged, and 25 were at Murphy.

In a breakdown of test results, Murphy had 62 students in third grade who were listed as not economically disadvantaged, and 25 who were. There were significant achievement gaps across the board. The highest disparity was in writing, where 55.6 percent of the non-disadvantaged kids scored at or above goal, compared to 21.7 percent of the disadvantaged students. There was a 29 point gap in math, and almost 8 points in reading.

Neither Tisko nor Sliney had enough disadvantaged students to be listed as a separate category. Similar results occurred in fourth grade.

During an interview with the Eagle, Hernandez emphasized that not all kids who are economically disadvantaged have learning challenges. When asked if there are special programs to help lower economic students, Hernandez said the schools provide additional remediation for any child who needs it, regardless of whether they are in a subgroup. He said children across the spectrum may need remedial help.

“It could be anything from small group instruction to parent instruction, to individual instruction,” Hernandez said. ​“We’re trying to meet students where they are and move them forward.”

In regard to the Mary Murphy School, Hernandez said some of the economically disadvantaged families are transitory and trend to be move in and out of the district more quickly than other families. This has an effect on education, Hernandez said, because there isn’t a continuity of learning.

“The longer students are with us, the greater achievement that child experiences,” Hernandez said.

WALSH INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DATA

In fifth grade, the number of students at or above goal increased compared to last year in math, reading and writing. The biggest gain was in math, where 91.6 percent were at or above goal, compared to 79.5 last year.

In sixth grade, the number of students at or above goal decreased from last year in math, reading and writing. The writing percentages dropped about 6 points.

In seventh grade, the percentage of students scoring at or above goal in math climbed about 7 points compared to last year, held steady at about 88 percent in reading; and dropped about 9 points in writing.

In eighth grade, the number of students scoring at or above goal stayed about the same or increased slightly in math, reading and writing compared to last year. The biggest increase was in writing.

BRANFORD HIGH SCHOOL CAPT SCORES 

In math, 55.4 percent of 10th graders scored at or above goal in 2011. The percentages have fluctuated in the past five years, with a high of 61.3 percent in 2008; and a low of 44.3 percent in 2007.

In science, 55.5 percent were at or above goal in 2011. Again the results fluctuated from a high of 61.3 percent in 2008 to a low of 52.4 percent in 2009.

In reading, 48.7 percent scored at or above goal in 2011 — the lowest percentage in the past five years. The next lowest was 55.9 percent in 2008. The highest was in 2010 with 64.1 percent.

In writing 76.8 percent scored at or above goal, which was the highest in the past five years. The lowest was 63.9 percent in 2009.

ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS (AYP)

The board did not discuss the figures for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which uses a complex formula to determine whether a school or district has achieved a pre-set federal status of adequacy, as determined by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation adopted by the Bush administration in 2001.

Branford High School failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress based on the 2011 CAPT scores because one of the subgroups did not have enough students scoring at the proficient level in math. There are typically higher numbers of students who score at the proficient level than at the goal level, because it is more difficult to reach goal.

According to AYP data, 90.4 percent of 277 Branford 10th grade students scored at or above the proficient level for math and met the AYP target. (The target for reaching AYP is 90 percent this year, and increases each year) However, in a subgroup of 44 economically disadvantaged students, only 80.3 percent scored at or above proficient. So, the entire high school is listed as not meeting AYP.

According to a press release from the State Department of Education, more students statewide achieved the proficient level on standardized tests than last year, but more failed to meet the federal AYP standards. The target for reaching AYP was raised significantly this year.

Almost half of the elementary, middle and high schools statewide failed to meet AYP for 2011. At the district level, 28.6 percent did not meet AYP this year.

In Branford, the elementary and intermediate schools met the AYP standard, as did the district overall.

All of the AYP data may be moot at some future date since President Obama announced in September that states may seek waivers to be released from the program. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has announced his decision to seek a waiver. Read a story from the CT Mirror here regarding his decision. In 2005, Connecticut became the first state to legally challenge the NCLB legislation. However, the lawsuit was dismissed in 2010.

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