Preston students do best ever on CMTs

District decides to delay switch to computerized tests for another year

Preston — Given that Preston public school students had their best performance ever on the latest version of the Connecticut Mastery Test, it’s not surprising that Superintendent John Welch would want to wait one more year before switching to the new computerized “smarter balance” tests.

Welch, however, said there are other valid reasons for using the familiar CMTs one more year at Preston Veterans’ Memorial School and Preston Plains Middle School. The new tests are to be taken by students online and are designed to be better in line with the new common core curriculum being implemented in Connecticut schools.

Preston already started using the new common core English language arts curriculum two years ago and brought in the new math curriculum last year, Welch said.

School districts have the option to start using the new test in 2014 or in 2015.

“I’m not convinced there aren’t going to be bugs in the new smarter balance tests,” Welch said. “There are two issues with the computers: how many computers do you have, and what’s the capacity, the bandwidth?”

With the paper and pencil mastery tests, all students in a given grade can take the tests at the same time, and even with unavoidable makeup tests for absentees and scheduling glitches, Preston can complete the tests within two weeks’ time. Welch isn’t sure how long the new tests would take, and wants to learn from other school districts’ first-year experiences.

“I just felt we’ll sit on the bench this year,” he said.

Preston students’ performance on the mastery tests last spring was glowing, Welch said in a recent presentation to teachers and support staff on opening day.

The test scores are posted on the school system’s website, at www.prestonschools. org.

In grades six and seven at the middle school, 100 percent of students who took the test reached the state proficient, advanced or goal levels, with none scoring at the lower basic or below basic levels.

Welch’s goal over the years has been to have at least 80 percent of students reach the state’s goal level in each grade level and subject. Of the 20 total categories — grade levels and subjects— only six scored below the 80 percent level. Fifth- grade students missed the mark in math, reading and science, but in all three subjects, those students improved from their scores a year earlier as fourth- graders.

Rather than comparing scores at the same grade level over last year or multiple years, Welch prefers to track the same students as they advance grade levels, using color-coded charts in his presentation. In 15 of those comparisons, 14 grades improved over last year, with only this year’s eighth- grade reading scores slipping.

Ten grades scored their highest- ever percentages in the current generation of CMTs, in use since 2006.

Welch credited teachers and staff for the high test scores. For the past four years, teachers have been working in teams both at grade levels and by subject matter to work on problem areas and improvement. He said the efforts have paid off in student performance.

“I have to give our teachers some well-deserved credit for these results,” Welch said. c.bessette@theday.com