2011 Wilton CMT Tests Show Marginal Decline Compared to 2010 Stats

Connecticut Mastery Tests (CMT) results show that Wilton's elementary and middle schoolers performed just slightly less, on average, this year than they did in 2010, according to data released Wednesday afternoon by state education officials.

The CMT, taken annually by more than 240,000 public school students in grades 3 through 8, consists of seven hours of testing in math, reading, writing, and — at some levels — science.

Students are graded on a scale of 1 ("below basic") to 5 ("advanced") on each section. Though the test is not pass/fail, Connecticut sets a goal range and a proficiency level for each grade and subject.

At a glance, 9 out of 20 proficiency scores in math, reading, writing, and science—which is only included for the eighth and fifth grades—across grades 3-8 showed some kind of increase over last year, while there were 11 out of 20 instances across the same grades that showed some kind of decline over last year.

Compared to the state as a whole, Wilton consistently scored higher -and in many cases, much higher - than state averages in comparable grades.

Data  showed a very slight decline compared to 2010 in Wilton's performance on Connecticut Academic Performance Test, or CAPT, a similar but separate exam taken by tenth graders. Again, Wilton still came out as a top contender in the state.

Among the notable CMT trends in Wilton:

• In proficiency, seventh graders declined by 1.4 points in math, 0.6 points in reading, and 3.7 points in writing. Seventh graders were the only grade to see no improvement in any score. 
• The portion of third graders scoring at or above proficiency in reading dropped 2.5 points to 92.7 percent
• Third graders jumped 2.2 points in proficiency with mathematics compared to last year.
• Fourth graders increased 1.5 points higher in reading to a 94.9 percent proficiency rating, up from 93.4 percent in 2010.
• Fifth graders increased by about 1.5 points in science and writing proficiency, but dropped by about 1.15 points in math and reading proficiency
• Sixth graders saw a proficiency increase in all disciplines, most notably in writing, where they leaped 3 points, up to a 95.7 percent proficiency rate compared to last year’s 92.7 percent.
• Eighth graders increased their proficiency in math and reading by 0.6 percent over 2010's class, but dropped by a 0.4 proficiency percentage in writing and 1.2 points in science.

The full district and statewide results can be found below. Numbers reflect the percentage of students scoring at or above goal or proficiency; figures in parentheses represent year-over-year changes. More data can be found here.

3RD GRADE

63.3 (

1.3)

4TH GRADE

5TH GRADE

6TH GRADE

7TH GRADE

8TH GRADE