Schools

Superintendent Hamilton Finds Stamford CMT, CAPT Scores Positive

The results for the latest round of Connecticut Mastery Tests and Connecticut Academic Performance Tests were made available Tuesday afternoon, and Stamford remained relatively static at the elementary level while middle and high school students showed mostly improvements. 

As a whole, Scores over a five-year period, the start of which was marked by a $25 million education grant from Stamford-based GE, grew as a whole.

"As far as Stamford goes, I'm pleased, I think we stayed stable or improved in our CMT scores, especially in the middle school," said Dr. Winifred Hamilton, Stamford Public Schools Superintendent. "As you heard the commissioner say, [there was a decrease] across the state and we didn't, so I think that's very positive."

There were some slight dips, which the public can peruse at the CMT website. Stamford third graders dropped a point or two year-over-year in almost every category, but still showed gains since 2009. And there was data present like 4th grade reading goal percentages that dropped a couple points, but the number of students at or above proficiency rose overall. Seventh grade students showed signs of struggling over the previous year's data. 

"I think the work we've done in the middle schools, especially with our sixth and eighth graders, has been very positive," Hamilton said. 

Sophomores who took the Connecticut Academic Performance Tests, scores publicly displayed here, showed the strongest gains even year-over-year, with improvements sometimes upwards of 8 points in average scale scores and goal and proficiency percentages. Those tenth grade students were the first students to take the test who completed sixth-through-tenth grade under the administration's direction with connected math, college prep and honors grouping, academic interventions and other academic support systems, Hamilton pointed out. 

"I think that's really helped us, them going through sixth, seventh and eighth grade and having kids more prepared," she said. "We had sort of the perfect storm going; what we were doing in the elementary [level], what did we do in the middle to work up to high school...[and] create, as kids move to the next level of assessment, an even playing field."

Hamilton said it wasn't just programs initiated that deserved credit, but also a focus on professional development for teachers within the district to grow and evolve in their positions that should be highlighted as well. She said without the GE Developing Futures grant, many of the improvements would not have been possible. 

"The funding and support [GE has] given us to really provide world class professional development...we would not have been able to fund that and accelerate the way we have if it wasn't for that additional [funding,]" Hamilton said. "You work hard at something and you prepare, your staff and your students, you can only expect a positive outcome and I think our teachers should be very proud."

While she was satisfied with the improvements and the ability to have some hard data to display after Board of Education members were worried there had not been enough improvement, she said the job was far from done. Stamford continues to move toward an implementation of Common Core standards which would increase the difficulty of the tests students would be administered, though it would provide an opportunity to learn best practices from states using the same Common Core testing regime to find where Stamford students fall compared to a national average. 

"I think what we're going to find is this is really going to focus and intensify even more the work we need to do," Hamilton said. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here