Date: Fri 14-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

schools-mastery-tests

Full Text:

Mastery Test Results Show Writing Improvement

BY DOROTHY EVANS

Newtown educators are poring over Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) data that

Assistant Superintendent Robert Kuklis calls "the biggest game in town in

terms of academic assessment."

And this year's tests show that efforts to improve writing skills in the

school system have had results, especially on the eighth grade level. It also

showed the need for improvement in math.

Dr Kuklis said Tuesday night in his report to the Board of Education that

although the test results provide only a "snapshot" view of student

performance across the state, they are valuable for many other reasons.

For example, over the four-year period the current version of the CMT has been

given (1993-1996) to Connecticut fourth, sixth and eighth graders, it becomes

possible to track the performance of specific classes. Hopefully, this allows

school systems like Newtown to see improvement as a result of specific

academic initiatives.

"We'll always jump on items we're not doing well," said Dr Kuklis. Educators

are already planning for future assessment, he added.

In a nutshell, Newtown's 1996 CMT results were favorable, especially in the

areas of writing at the eighth grade level. Writing is a subject area that was

specifically targeted by many area school systems when last year's CMT results

showed a need for improvement.

"We're proud of our eighth grade results in general, although math is situated

to improve," Dr Kuklis said.

He mentioned that although the district has concentrated on problem solving,

computation work is "not so good" at the middle school level, where "people

are doing curriculum work right now as we speak."

Dr Kuklis felt confident those math results would improve in the future.

The percentage of Newtown students scoring at or above state goals in the 1996

CMT was:

Grade four - math, 72 percent; reading, 66 percent; and writing sample, 66

percent.

Grade six - math, 63 percent; reading, 77 percent; and writing sample, 62

percent.

Grade eight - math, 73 percent; reading, 86 percent; and writing sample, 81

percent.

The grade six writing sample at 62 percent was somewhat worrisome, Dr Kuklis

said.

"There needs to be more work done early" in the writing process at the

elementary school level, he added.

"Grade four looks pretty good," Dr Kuklis said, but he pointed out Newtown's

results may fluctuate from year to year depending upon the specific class

being tested.

Newtown educators were particularly pleased when they noted Newtown students

compared quite favorably with students attending schools in similar towns. The

economic reference group (ERG) to which Newtown belongs includes 19 school

districts (such as Bethel, Brookfield, Granby, Greenwich, Monroe, Trumbull and

West Hartford) and is considered the second wealthiest group in the state (ERG

B).

Newtown's net current expenditure per pupil is $6,595. Greenwich spends

$10,326, Brookfield spends $7,216 and Bethel spends $6,601.

In spending per pupil, Newtown ranks 17th out of the 19 ERG B towns and would

have to spend $1,000 more per pupil in order to reach the ERG B mean spending

figure of $7,590.

"We'd need to add $4 million to our budget to reach that average Group B ERG

level," said Board of Education member Amy Dent after hearing Dr Kuklis's

summary.

"We're moving in the right direction," said board chairman Herb Rosenthal,

noting that only Farmington placed higher in eighth grade math.

"People in Newtown should be pleased with what we're getting for our

expenditures when compared to towns of similar wealth," Mr Rosenthal said.

Dr Reed preferred to dwell upon what he finds most exciting about Newtown's

academic profile - namely, the curriculum improvement plans that are

continuously being submitted by every department.

"That's where the creativity and initiative is," Dr Reed said.