Connecticut State Department of Education News

02/09/2018

More students demonstrate college and career readiness

Overall state accountability results stable in 2016-17

(HARTFORD, CT)—Today the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) released the 2016-17 results from the Next Generation Accountability System. This system takes a broad view of school and district performance based on a set of 12 indicators. Two of the indicators focus on college and career readiness: they expect students to participate in rigorous coursework while in high school; and meet benchmark on college readiness exams. Both those indicators showed promising improvements.

In particular, the percentage of Connecticut’s 11th and 12th graders who met the benchmark in a college and career readiness exam (i.e., SAT, ACT, Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate) increased from 40.7 percent in 2015-16 to 43.5 percent in 2016-17. Contributing to this is the notable increase in the number of students who took at least one AP exam in

2016-17 (28,961) – up 4.9 percent from 2015-16. These students took 53,106 exams – an increase of 5.1 percent from the prior year. Additionally, we are proud of our students who have scored a three, four, or five on the exams. Here we saw an increase of 3.6 percent from 2015-16. These improvements were evidenced among students from all racial/ethnic backgrounds.

The overall state report based on the 12 indicators is on page 2. Though the state accountability index was relatively stable (73.1 in 2015-16 to 73.2 in 2016-17), there are other bright spots.

  • The six-year graduation rate for high needs students (i.e., English learners, students with disabilities, or those from a low-income family) increased from 78.6 percent (2012- 13 cohort) to 82.0 percent (2013-14 cohort). These students are demonstrating that they can complete high school with additional time and support.

  • The CSDE is identifying 124 Schools of Distinction for overall high performance, substantial improvement in overall performance, or high matched student cohort academic growth for all students or high need students. It is commendable that 23 of these schools are located in Alliance Districts.

    • In March 2016, the CSDE identified a cohort of Focus schools. Focus schools are those with among the lowest subgroup achievement in the entire state. This is the first year that Focus schools are eligible to exit by showing sustained progress among their student groups. Based on the established criteria, 16 Focus schools are being exited from the Focus category.

The table below shows the State’s 2016-17 performance on every indicator and the reported change compared to 2015-16 results.

No:

Indicator

Index/ Rate

Target

Points Earned

Max Points

% Points Earned

Change from 2015-16

1a.

ELA Performance Index – All Students

67.1

75

44.7

50

89.5%

yellow arrow -0.8%

1b.

ELA Performance Index – High Needs Students

55.9

75

37.3

50

74.5%

red arrow -1.1%

1c.

Math Performance Index – All Students

62.2

75

41.5

50

82.9%

green arrow 1.1%

1d.

Math Performance Index – High Needs Students

50.5

75

33.7

50

67.3%

 yellow arrow 0.8% 

1e.

Science Performance Index – All Students

55.3

75

36.9

50

73.7%

 red arrow -2.9%

1f.

Science Performance Index – High Needs Students

45.2

75

30.1

50

60.3%

red arrow -2.4%

2a.

ELA Avg. Percentage of Growth Target Achieved – All Students

55.4%

100%

55.4

100

55.4%

 red arrow -8.4%

2b.

ELA Avg. Percentage of Growth Target Achieved – High Needs Students

49.8%

100%

49.8

100

49.8%

 red arrow -8.5%

2c.

Math Avg. Percentage of Growth Target Achieved – All Students

61.7%

100%

61.7

100

61.7%

 red arrow -3.3%

2d.

Math Avg. Percentage of Growth Target Achieved – High Needs Students

53.7%

100%

53.7

100

53.7%

 red arrow-3.7% 

4a.

Chronic Absenteeism – All Students

9.9%

≤ 5%

40.2

50

80.4%

red arrow -1.0%

4b.

Chronic Absenteeism – High Needs Students

15.8%

≤ 5%

28.4

50

56.8%

yellow arrow -0.9%

5

Preparation for CCR – % taking courses

70.7%

75%

47.1

50

94.2%

green arrow 4.1%

6

Preparation for CCR – % passing exams

43.5%

75%

29.0

50

58.0%

green arrow 3.8%

7

On-track to High School Graduation

87.8%

94%

46.7

50

93.4%

green arrow 2.9%

8

4-year Graduation All Students

87.4%

94%

93.0

100

93.0%

yellow arrow 0.2%

9

6-year Graduation - High Needs Students

82.0%

94%

87.2

100

87.2%

green arrow 3.6%

10

Postsecondary Entrance

72.0%

75%

96.0

100

96.0%

yellow arrow 0.1%

11

Physical Fitness

51.6%

75%

34.4

50

68.8%

green arrow 35.1%

12

Arts Access

50.5%

60%

42.1

50

84.2%

green arrow 5.0%

State Accountability Index

988.8

1350

73.2%

yellow arrow 0.1%

Note: Change between ±1 percent on the “% Points earned” is indicated as yellow arrow.

“Improving statewide performance on the accountability indicators requires collective effort,” said Commissioner Dianna R. Wentzell. “We are achieving this by operationalizing the State Board of Education’s Comprehensive Plan across the agency and by partnering closely with districts. While I’m pleased to see that some indicators are showing improvements, we have more work to do to achieve even greater improvement on all indicators.”

Many districts are aligning local improvement plans with the full range of accountability indicators and are using the system for what it was designed to do—identify strengths and challenges, recognize progress, and inform improvement efforts. The CSDE is supporting districts and schools by providing greater access to data and increasing local capacity to understand and use vital information from the Next Generation Accountability System to produce great schools for all Connecticut students.

These results and additional support materials for districts are available on the CSDE’s data portal EdSight at http://edsight.ct.gov

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Peter Yazbak, Director of Communications
Office: 860-713-6528
Mobile: 860-471-3518
Email: Peter.Yazbak@ct.gov