Barlow CAPT Scores Remain High

The results are in for the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, and High School's sophomores scored well during the past school year. Though the scores dropped slightly in mathematics and science, they improved in reading and writing.

Dr. Tom McMorran, principal of Barlow, told Patch it's important to remember that it's a different batch of students who take the test each year.

"If we step back and look at Barlow's performance in three ways, we can take the CAPT as another confirmation of our overall progress. First, we place well in comparison to the DRG-A schools—first in writing, second for this year in reading, and competitive in math and science," he said. "Second, we expect to out-perform most of the state, and we have. Third, and perhaps most meaningfully, we see a positive four-year trend. For instance, in comparison with the 2009 administration of the CAPT this year's scores are up by 8 points in math and science, 15.7 points in reading, and 10 points in writing."

McMorran said the positive trend "reflects the sustained efforts of our teachers and students to grow our program."  

"What I would like the community to remember is that Barlow has always aspired to be more than the sum of our scores," he said. "We want to help our students navigate adolescence and emerge as competent, creative, confident, and contributing young adults.

Mark Lewis commended the Barlow staff and students for their work and the results. 

"Last year’s Barlow sophomores continued the school’s tradition of strong performance on the CAPT," Lewis told Patch. "Thanks to the students and their teachers for their work preparing for these tests which are a regrettable state mandate that are of no interest to colleges. Barlow staff works very hard on integrating some test prep—not all subjects are tested—into the more important educational activities that go on at the school without damaging those broader efforts."

Dr. Bernard Josefsberg, superintendent of schools, pointed out that the state's metrics will soon change. 

"We continue to sift through the results, looking for achievement patterns and discrepancies that may signal program needs," Josefsberg said. "I can tell you that those results generally confirm that E/R/9 students measure up well, but it’s also important to emphasize that the state’s measurements will soon change."  

Josefsberg said the srtate is developing the next generation of standardized testing which are "supposedly more rigorous" and will be implemented in the 2014-2015 school year.

"Anticipating that change, we’re refining our curricula so that our students will do well on those measures as well as on other—more personalized and more relevant—measures of accomplishment," he said. 

CAPT Results Over Time

Joel Barlow High Schools' CAPT test results went down in mathematics and science, but increased in reading and writing. Still, the school scored strongly against the state, on average, and compares favorably with neighboring school districts. 

97.6

Year

Comparing CAPT Results

Here are this year's CAPT results for Barlow in four different areas, with comparisons to scores for several similar school districts. (The districts chosen are each in the District Reference Group A, a state classification of districts with similar resources and students of similar social and economic backgrounds):

Both CMT and CAPT scores were released Thursday by the Connecticut Department of Education. The department said the results overall were generally encouraging, although not much different from 2011.

"The results of the 2012 Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) were mixed," the department said in a news release. "While student performance increased in all content areas when compared to the CAPT baseline year of 2007, it decreased in some areas when compared to last year. As compared to 2011, performance increased slightly in writing, remained relatively constant in science and reading, and decreased in mathematics."

State Education Commissioner Stephen Prior said in the news release:

"We’re pleased to see that there are signs of progress in our schools. That said, while schools are moving more students into Proficient- and Goal-level performance, significant gaps in achievement continue between economically disadvantaged students and their peers. So there is reason for optimism regarding our system’s ability to advance, as well as cause for continuing concern. We need to work together to implement the reforms and initiatives we’ve recently launched in order to build on areas of progress and remedy the persistent problems in our schools."