Groton Students Outperform State in Math in Grades 4, 5 and 7

Groton outperformed the state in math proficiency in grades 4, 5 and 7, according to the results of the Connecticut Mastery Test released Thursday.

Test results show that Groton as a district falls below the state average for the most part in grades 3, 6 and 8 but above the state in most subject areas in grades 5 and 7. 

"What we're seeing is a steady but promising growth," said Sean McKenna, assistant superintendent for curriculum & instruction.

Individual school scores are mixed and in some cases, show markedly different performance.

McKenna gathered a group of administrators Wednesday, including the principal of Catherine Kolnaski Magnet School, an assistant principal of Fitch High School, the district's former math coordinator and the district technology coordinator to take an initial look at the results.

"There's definitely some bright spots, especially the math. We outperformed the state in proficiency in grades 4, 5, 6 and 7," he said.

Groton administrators also looked at inidivual grades to track students dating back to 2008.

For example, of the third graders in 2008, 76.8 percent scored at or above proficiency in math. That same group of students in 2012, in seventh grade, showed 90.3 percent proficiency in math.

The students also improved in reading, from 66.4 percent proficiency in 2008 to 88.8 percent proficiency in 2012.

McKenna added that Groton has a transient population, so many students move in and out. Of the 335 eighth grade students tested, 174 have remained in Groton since third grade.

In releasing the test scores for individual districts this year, the state Department of Education said performance on the CMT — given to students in grades 3 through 8 — continued to gradually improve while .

"The most consistent and significant increases in student performance occurred in reading and writing," the state department said in a news release.  "Student performance in math and science increased in the early grades but declined in later grades."

Groton CMT test scores

Individual Schools

Another way to measure performance is to follow a group of students from one grade to the next.

The table below compares last year's third grade to this year's fourth grade, by school, in an effort to track children from one year to the next. Figures represents the percentage of students scoring at or above proficiency.

Some schools, like Charles Barnum Elementary and Mary Morrisson, have high turnover due to the percentage of military families, and may be mostly new students. Others have more stable populations.