Groton Students Improve On CMTs

Groton students improved in math and reading in third and fourth grade this year, fell slightly in fifth grade and made gains in middle school, according to the results of the Connecticut Mastery Test, released today.

Elementary schools showed strong gains in third and fourth grade in math and reading compared to last year, and also improved in writing in fourth grade. Student performance declined in fifth grade in math, reading and science.

“We get the results and we study them,” Superintendent Paul Kadri said. “There’s no way to be happy or sad at this moment. There are a lot of positive things that I see, (and) there are some areas that I want to explore further because I am surprised they are not higher.”

Some elementary schools showed exceptional success.

For example, 100 percent of fourth graders at S.B. Butler School scored at proficiency or better in writing, and 95.5 percent of fourth grade students at the school scored at proficiency or better in math. In reading, 90.5 percent of the school’s fourth graders scored at or above proficiency.

At Claude Chester Elementary, third graders showed marked improvement in all subject areas. In math, for example, 79.6 percent of students scored at or above proficiency this year, up from 54 percent last year. In reading, the percentage of students at or above proficiency at the school jumped to 63.3 percent from 49 percent last year.

“We’ll look at (this on) a school-by-school basis,” Kadri said. “Last year, Charles Barnum has a spectacular year,” he said. “This year it looks like Butler had a spectacular year. They were 100 percent (proficient) in one of the areas. (And) it looks like Claude Chester had some exceptional growth.”

The district as a whole showed gains in nearly all subject areas and grades in middle school, but uneven or lagging performance at West Side Middle School.

For example, seventh graders at West Side fell significantly in math performance; the percentage of students scoring at or above proficiency fell to 80.2 percent this year, down from 91.9 percent last year.

Seventh graders at Fitch Middle School, by comparison, showed a jump in math, with 87 percent scoring at or above proficiency this year, up from 79.1 percent in 2010.

Below is a sampling of the CMT Scores in Groton (percentages represent students at or above proficiency in subject area in 2011):

Grade 3  Math, Reading

District: 84 percent, 75.5 percent

S. B. Butler: 91.3 percent, 91.3 percent

Claude Chester: 79.6 percent, 63.3 percent

Pleasant Valley: 85.5 percent, 63 percent

Mary Morrison: 94.7 percent, 76.3 percent

Charles Barnum: 94.3 percent, 88.2 percent

Northeast Academy: 93.6 percent, 91.5 percent

Kolnaski Magnet: 61.3 percent, 64.5 percent

Grade 5 Math, Reading

District: 86.9 percent, 73.7 percent

S.B. Butler: 92.3 percent, 88.5 percent

Claude Chester: 88 percent, 61.7 percent

Pleasant Valley: 80 percent, 65.7 percent

Mary Morrison: 85 percent, 70 percent

Charles Barnum: 96.6 percent, 86.2 percent

Northeast Academy: 90.9 percent, 85.1 percent

Kolnaski Magnet: 79.7 percent, 60.9 percent

Grade 7  Math, Reading

District: 87.4 percent, 84.3 percent

Fitch Middle: 87 percent, 81.3 percent

West Side: 80.2 percent, 82.2 percent

Cutler Middle: 93.8 percent, 89.3 percent