Groton's Tenth Graders Move Up Among Their Peers

Groton’s tenth graders have moved up among their peers in writing and math - from 10th place out of 16 comparable schools to 5^th - according to the results of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test released this week.

The test looks at student performance in math, reading, writing and science, then measures this against schools with comparable economic and social makeup.

By this standard, Groton falls into a group of 16 districts or high schools, including Stratford, East Haven, Killingly, Norwich Free Academy and Vernon.

Last year, Groton placed 10^th among these districts in math and writing. The placements look at areas including the percentage of students at or above proficiency in a given subject.

This year, Groton ranked ahead of Norwich Free Academy in writing and was one rung behind NFA in math.

Groton moved up from 13th place to 8th place in science this year. It fell in reading, from 5^th to 6^th place.

Groton Superintendent Paul Kadri said that when he gets test results, he looks at how the district did relative to itself, relative to the state and relative to comparable districts.

“It appears that we did better in our (peer) group," he said. "Reading was not as strong as I would have hoped given to our attention to reading, but we have to dive in deeper, because we are such a mobile district.”

About 800 to 900 of Groton's 5,000 students move in or out of the schools in a given year, or about 17 percent.

This could become a factor when the state determines whether the town's students made what is called “adequate yearly progress” under federal law.  Schools are not judged on the scores of students who have been in a district less than six months, so newcomers are removed from that measure although they are reported in overall test scores, Kadri said.

The top 5 schools in Groton’s peer group in each subject in 2011 and percentage of students at or above proficiency in those schools are listed below:

Math

1. Stratford: 86.2 percent

2. Bristol: 85.3 percent

3. Naugatuck: 85.1 percent

4. Norwich Free Academy: 79.8 percent

5. Groton: 79.7 percent

(Statewide: 80.3 percent)

Reading

1. Naugatuck: 85.9 percent

2. Stratford: 85.9 percent

3. Bristol: 82.8 percent

4. Killingly: 81.1 percent

5. East Haven: 80.9 percent

(Statewide: 81.9 percent)

6. Groton: 79.7 percent

Writing

1. Naugatuck: 91.6 percent

2. East Haven: 91.3 percent

3. Stratford: 89.6 percent

4. Killingly: 89.1 percent

5. Groton: 88.1 percent

(Statewide: 88.6 percent)

Science

1. Naugatuck: 84.4 percent

2. Stratford: 83.8 percent

3. Bristol: 83.4 percent

4. Norwich Free Academy: 83.2 percent

5. Vernon: 81.3

(Statewide: 81.7 percent)

8. Groton: 79.8 percent