CAPT, CMTs Show Progress Despite THS Construction

Trumbull's results in the Connecticut Academic Performance Test and the Connecticut Mastery Test were similar to last year's, THS construction and test changes not withstanding.

The CAPT is given to 10th-graders and the CMT to grades three to eight.

Schools Supt. Ralph Iassogna said CAPT scores are "very similar to the previous year," adding that the CMT scores are "very, very strong."

"They show good, solid growth," he said. Many of the CMT scores varied by no more than about five percent from the year before.

Affecting the scores were state-mandated changes to the test and curriculum.

Locally, a big issue is the construction at , the interior of which will be done before school starts Aug. 27. Other items should be completed some time after that.

The school has been a construction zone for five years, between building an auditorium and making "like new" renovations, Iassogna said. Classrooms have been added and infrastructure upgraded.

"There have been many barriers at the high school" because of construction, but students and faculty have been working around it, according to the superindendent. "I'm not using it as an excuse but it has had an impact."

THS Principal Robert Tremaglio said that "Students and staff have never performed higher" despite construction. They have contended with power surges, power outages and interruptions, sometimes during tests.

According to state Education Department press release, "The results of the 2012 Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) were mixed. While student performance increased in all content areas when compared to the CAPT baseline year of 2007, it decreased in some areas when compared to last year. As compared to 2011, performance increased slightly in writing, remained relatively constant in science and reading, and decreased in mathematics."

On the CMTs, it stated: "The Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) increased in several grades and content areas from last year, continuing a trend of incremental improvement since the CMT baseline year of 2006.  The most consistent and significant increases in student performance occurred in reading and writing; student performance in math and scienceincreased in the early grades but declined in later grades."

CAPT

73.1     (-0.1)

CMTs