Local Students Do Well On CMT Test

By Tanjua Damon

The results are in for the Connecticut Mastery Test, which Newtown fourth, sixth, and eighth graders took at the end of September 2000. This year’s test is the “third generation” of CMTs in the state, and local students fared well.

Assistant Superintendent Robert Kuklis presented the Newtown results to the Board of Education Tuesday night. Overall Newtown students were above the ERB (Educational Reference Group) scores and the state scores on the mastery test.

“I think they are good. It’s a good base to work from,” Dr Kuklis said about the Newtown results. “But I think it’s also complex and we always want to improve.”

Fourth grade students in Newtown did well on the CMTs. In math, 82 percent of fourth grade students were at or above goal compared to 79 percent in the ERG and 60 percent statewide. In reading, 77 percent reached goal, while only 74 percent in the ERG and 56 percent in the state reached goal. In writing, 74 percent of fourth graders met goal compared to 72 percent for the ERG and 57 percent for the state.

Sixth grade students also did well on the new mastery test. Eighty-one percent of sixth graders in Newtown met goal compared to 75 percent for the ERG and 57 percent for the state. In reading, 81 percent reached goal, while 79 percent for the ERG and 62 percent in the state did. In writing, 79 percent met standards compared to 77 percent for the ERG and 61 percent in the state.

Eighth grade students performed well overall, but fell below the ERG in math. Seventy-one percent of students reached goal in math, while 74 percent for the ERG and 54 percent for the state did. In reading, 83 percent of eighth graders met standards compared to 83 percent for the ERG and 66 percent for the state. In writing, 76 percent met goal while 76 percent for the ERG and 60 percent for the state met goal.

“This is a harder test, I believe for math,” Superintendent of School John R. Reed said. “In the problem solving, they were given a chunk of time to deal with a complex problem. This is a good thing about the test.”

“As you know this is a new generation of the mastery test. The third generation, which means it is a new test,” Dr Kuklis said. “The nature of the test is somewhat different and the way the data has been presented to us is somewhat different.”

It is difficult to compare last year’s CMT results with this year’s because you are dealing with two different tests, according to Dr Kuklis. In the second generation test students were tested in areas of writing that were not included in the score. In the third generation test students’ editing and revising are included in the scoring.

The third generation test also includes various comparisons from gender to race to special education, according to Dr Kuklis. This mastery test shows scores where students did not excel in certain problems on the test.

The third generation mastery test has more accountability to students, according to Dr Kuklis. The number of students who can be exempt from the test has changed and it provides options for students to take the test even if they are deemed out-of-level for the CMT.

“The intent of these tests is to reduce the number of students who are exempt,” Dr Kuklis said. “This is one of the fundamental changes in the third generation. There is a very strong commitment [to have all students take the CMT].”

The state has set a target number that 80 percent of special education students take the CMT, according to Dr Kuklis. Newtown had 85 percent of its special education students take the test. Newtown was well over the 90 percentile for total student population taking the test.

“We have a very high participation rate,” Dr Kuklis said. “I am very proud of the fact that we have a high participation rate.”

The third generation test is made so that students who are in special education can test out-of-level, which allows a student to test below their grade level in order to have a true assessment of the student’s abilities. The other alternative is for students who do not participate in an academic curriculum.