Trumbull Schools Strong in Standardized Tests

Every Trumbull school achieved the state mandated Annual Yearly Progress target of Proficient on the past year’s Connecticut Mastery Tests and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test.

There was, however one special education group at whose scores fell below the Proficient level, Asst. Supt. Gary Cialfi recently told the Board of Education.

CMTs test achievement of every student in grades three through eight in reading, math and writing, and add a science test for fifth and eight graders. The CAPT measures achievement of tenth graders in reading, math, writing and science.

Cialfi noted that only 53 percent of the state’s schools attained the Proficient level, the middle of five achievement levels, and a smaller portion than last year. This may be due in part to the increase in scores required to be deemed Proficient.

Proficient targets were raised for 2010-11 and will rise again for the 2013-14 school year, from 2009-2010 school year's 82 percent to this year’s 91 percent for CMT Math. 

The results mean that 91 percent of Trumbull’s third- through eighth-grade students scored Proficient or better.  In two years every student in grades three to eight must earn a grade of Proficient for the school and the district to meet the state’s goals.

The CAPT requirements, too, rose significantly for the past year and will rise again to 100 percent in 2013-14.

Cialfi said that with a declining number districts attaining Proficient there has already been “a great deal of discussion at the state level about the 100 percent requirement” during a time of constricted budgets in most districts. 

He noted that statewide standardized tests are mandated by No Child Left Behind legislation. NCLB itself was designed to identify strengths and weaknesses of schools’ and districts’ curriculum and staff rather than to identify individual students in need of remedial assistance.

This, he said, leads to two fundamental problems in the way AYP is measured – “besides the necessary increase in funding.”

The first is that everything is “based on a single test given once a year.”  The other is the “absence of a growth model.”  CMT and CAPT do not “look at gains made by individuals” on a year over year basis, but rather evaluate groups within a single year.

Revised Calendar

Supt. Ralph Iassogna has also presented a calendar revised to return the four days lost to Tropical Storm Irene. The new calendar pushes the last day of school to Tuesday, June 19.

If cancellations are taken this winter days will be added by first extending the year to June 22, eliminating a professional development day on Monday, April 9, and then by shortening the April vacation, beginning with Friday, April 20 and continuing as needed.

The changes were approved by a 6-0 vote, with member Tom Kelly absent.

Administrators’ Contract Approved

Iassogna presented the just negotiated three-year contract with the Trumbull Administrators Association. The contract covers 21.38 Full Time Equivalent principals, directors and coordinators, and takes effect July 1, 2012.

The contract provides no salary increase for the initial year, 1.75 percent the second and two percent the third. 

It replaces the current medical plan with a modified PPO plan that is the same as the teachers'. The administration estimates this will save $10,000 by raising co-pay percentages from 15 percent to 17.5 percent and to 18.5 percent.

Member Deborah Herbst thanked fellow board members Lisa Labella and Loretta Chory for their work on the negotiating team that included Iassogna and Assistant Superintendent Cialfi, and was chaired by attorney Floyd Dugas.

Labella thanked Tom Tesoro, a Board of Finance member who was also a part of the team.

Herbst recused herself from the vote, as her husband is a member of bargaining unit. The contract was accepted by a 5-0 vote.

It now goes to the Town Council for final approval. Iassogna told the board that the council must act within 30 days and can either accept the document as written or, with a two-thirds vote, reject it.