Students score well on state proficiency tests

State test results released last week show that, while students who learned fully or mostly in-person last year lost the least ground, Shoreline students still had high levels of proficiency — and, in some cases, hybrid and remote students did better than their in-person counterparts.

The assessment data offers a snapshot at how learning fared during COVID-19. Proficiency rates dropped since the 2018-19 school year, the last time state tests were administered. All subjects were affected, but the greatest impact was in mathematics.

Connecticut students sat for several statewide assessments in the spring, including the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium reading and math exams for third-through eighth-graders.

While the state said this data should not be used to compare across schools or districts, due to the variability between how much classroom time students got and the quality of that time, it does serve as a snapshot into how districts fared.

Across the Shoreline, many students did well despite the challenging

Madison

In Madison, 98 percent of fully or mostly in-person students sat for the state English Language Arts exam and 97 percent sat for the math exam. Of these students, 73 percent reached a level three or four proficiency on the ELA exam, and 69 percent reached those levels on the math test.

Hybrid students in Madison who sat for the exams in person had similar levels of achievement, with 70 percent reaching levels three and four in ELA and 68 percent in math.

The most striking difference is in the fully or mostly remote students. Only 48 percent sat for in-person exams, but those who did had higher rates of proficiency than the other two learning models. For the reading exam, 83 percent of remote students scored a level three or four, while almost 71 percent scored those levels in math.

East Lyme

In East Lyme, where students were mostly part of the hybrid model, inperson learners did the worst. About 91 percent of in-person students sat for both exams, however only 29 percent of students received a level three or four on their reading exam. For the math exam, only 27 percent were deemed proficient.

Hybrid learners in East Lyme fared better, with 70 percent scoring well on the reading exam and almost 59 percent scoring well on math. Fully remote learners, 44 percent of which took the exams in person, did the best, with 85 percent being labeled proficient in reading and almost 64 percent labeled proficient in math.

Old Saybrook

Old Saybrook students followed a similar trend, with remote learners performing better than mostly in-person learners.

While 97 percent of inperson students took the exams in Old Saybrook, only 63 percent were considered proficient in reading and 44 percent in math. For fully or mostly remote students, 82 percent took the exams in-person. They scored a level three or four on exams at a higher rate — 83 percent in reading and 58 percent in math.

Other Shoreline districts, such as Lyme-Old Lyme, Westbrook, Salem and Guilford, did well on exams too, despite a difficult academic year.

Christine DeRosa / Hearst Connecticut Media East Lyme Middle School students returned to school on Aug. 30 and were greeted by staff, including Superintendent Jeffrey Newton.