Test Scores Show Strides, Struggles

The Smarter Balanced Bad News Has Some Parents Worried About Student Performance

BLOOMFIELD — The 2018 Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium test scores for Bloomfield students show that some grades are making strides while others are continuing to struggle or maintain their less-than-stellar 2017 levels.

Schools Superintendent James Thompson said he was encouraged by the third grade scores, which showed a 22 percent increase in English language arts and a 12 percent increase in math in the number of students meeting or exceeding the state target over 2017 scores.

“Third-grade is important because thirdgrade is a predictor of how students will perform throughout,” Thompson said. “It's the foundation.”

The district's seventh grade students also saw a 13.4 percent increase in ELA and a 10 percent increase in math over 2017 scores.

And in fifth grade, ELA scores were up 3.8 percent and math scores were up 11 percent over last year.

But in the fourth grade, which struggled in 2017, the decline continued as student scores dipped by 11 percent in ELA and by 1 percent in math.

In the sixth grade the news was bad as well with ELA scores dropping by 29.9 percent and math scores down 17 percent compared to 2017.

Overall Bloomfield students continue to struggle to meet the state goal on the test, with 59.4 percent below goal on the ELA portion of the test and 71.4 percent below goal on math.

For parent Patrene Davis, the bad news far outweighs the good news.

“Some of the kids excelled but we're still way, way, way below goal,” Davis said earlier this week at the town council meeting. “We're stagnant. We're not going anywhere.”

Parent Vudonzi Graham-Days was more blunt in her assessment of the scores.

“I'm hoping that this community gets as pissed off as us at these test scores,” she said, adding that the district is not giving parents a complete and accurate portrayal of the test scores.

“It's smoke and mirrors and damage control,” she said.

Schools spokesman Stan Simpson said the district has been transparent about the scores, including posting a release on the district website in which Thompson noted the poor sixth grade scores. The press release also ran in its entirety in the Bloomfield Messenger, a free local weekly newspaper.

Graham-Days and Davis are part of a group of parents that started a petition earlier this summer calling for Thompson's resignation or removal.

Thompson said he has a plan to ensure that the gains continue and that the setbacks and percentage of students below goal are addressed.

The plan includes meeting with building principals beginning next week to assess where each student was last year and where each student is now through the use of individual reflective and perspective reports.

The goal, he said, is to determine whether good or poor scores on the test were related to classroom instruction, the curriculum, assessments or outside influences, such as student or teacher absenteeism.

“It's labor intensive, but it's worth it,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he also plans to be more hands on this year and meet with principals more regularly to make sure everyone is working together to move the district forward.

The building principals are scheduled to make presentations about their scores at the Oct. 16 board of education meeting.

“Some of the kids excelled but we’re still way, way, way below goal. We’re stagnant. We’re not going anywhere.”

Patrene Davis, parent