01/30/2020
CSDE: 2018-19 Next Generation Accountability Results Show Significant Increases in College and Career Readiness
Promising Improvements in ELA, Math and 6-Year Graduation Rate for Students with High Needs; 162 Schools of Distinction Recognized for High Overall Performance and/or Academic Growth
(HARTFORD, CT)—Today the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) released the 2018-19 results of the Next Generation Accountability System. Connecticut’s accountability system takes a comprehensive view of school and district performance based on a broad set of 12 indicators. These indicators include academic achievement, academic growth, chronic absenteeism, college and career readiness, high school graduation, physical fitness and access to the arts. Pursuant to Connecticut’s state plan for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), two important changes were introduced to the system in 2018-19:
- The accountability system now includes the results from the new science assessments.
- The accountability system now also incorporates the growth achieved by English learners on the English language proficiency assessment (LAS Links).
Connecticut implemented its Next Generation Accountability System four years ago beginning with the 2015-16 school year. The change in performance from 2015-16 to 2018-19 for each indicator is presented below with improvements noted in several indicators as designated by 
.
|
|
Indicator |
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
2017-18 |
2018-19 |
|
|
1a. |
ELA Performance Index – All Students |
67.7 |
67.1 |
67.6 |
67.7 |
|
|
1b. |
ELA Performance Index – High Needs Students |
56.7 |
55.9 |
57.5 |
58.1 |
|
|
1c. |
Math Performance Index – All Students |
61.4 |
62.2 |
62.7 |
63.1 |
|
|
1d. |
Math Performance Index – High Needs Students |
49.9 |
50.5 |
52.0 |
52.7 |
|
|
1e. |
Science Performance Index – All Students |
|
|
|
63.8 |
|
|
1f. |
Science Performance Index – High Needs Students |
|
|
|
54.2 |
|
|
2a. |
ELA Avg. Percentage of Growth Target Achieved – All Students |
63.8% |
55.4% |
60.7% |
59.9% |
|
|
2b. |
ELA Avg. Percentage of Growth Target Achieved – High Needs Students |
58.3% |
49.8% |
55.6% |
55.1% |
|
|
2c. |
Math Avg. Percentage of Growth Target Achieved – All Students |
65.0% |
61.7% |
61.9% |
62.5% |
|
|
2d. |
Math Avg. Percentage of Growth Target Achieved – High Needs Students |
57.4% |
53.7% |
55.4% |
55.2% |
|
|
2e. |
Progress Toward English Proficiency – Literacy |
60.0% |
|
|||
|
2f. |
Progress Toward English Proficiency – Oral |
52.1% |
|
|||
|
4a. |
Chronic Absenteeism – All Students |
9.6% |
9.9% |
10.7% |
10.4% |
|
|
4b. |
Chronic Absenteeism – High Needs Students |
15.6% |
15.8% |
16.6% |
16.1% |
|
|
5 |
Preparation for College and Career Readiness – % taking courses |
67.6% |
70.7% |
74.8% |
80.0% |
|
|
6 |
Preparation for College and Career Readiness – % passing exams |
40.7% |
43.5% |
44.8% |
42.6% |
|
|
7 |
On-track to High School Graduation |
85.1% |
87.8% |
87.5% |
88.0% |
|
|
8 |
4-year Graduation - All Students |
87.2% |
87.4% |
87.9% |
88.3% |
|
|
9 |
6-year Graduation - High Needs Students |
78.6% |
82.0% |
81.8% |
83.3% |
|
|
10 |
Postsecondary Entrance |
71.9% |
72.0% |
70.9% |
70.9% |
|
|
11 |
Physical Fitness |
50.5% |
51.6% |
50.1% |
52.9% |
|
|
12 |
Arts Access |
47.5% |
50.5% |
51.2% |
51.9% |
|
|
|
Accountability Index |
73.1 |
73.2 |
74.9 |
74.2 |
|
The state’s overall accountability index (the total percentage of points earned on all possible indicators) increased from 73.1 in 2015-16 to 74.2 in 2018-19.
“We are encouraged to see improvement in several indicators since we first began using the Next Generation Accountability System in 2015-16. We are especially pleased by the more than 5 percent growth in CCR. This bodes well as we position our PreK-12 system to be more responsive to the college and career pathways currently needed in our state,” said Desi Nesmith, Deputy Education Commissioner of Academics and Innovation.
Indicators 5 and 6 focus on college and career readiness. These indicators reflect students’ participation in rigorous coursework (AP/IB/Dual Enrollment, Career and Technical Education, or Workplace Experience) while in high school (Indicator 5), and meeting or exceeding benchmark scores on college readiness exams (Indicator 6). Both of those indicators improved over the last four years.
The percentage of 11th and 12th graders who participated in rigorous coursework increased from 67.6 percent in 2015-16 to 80 percent in 2018-19. The percentage meeting or exceeding a benchmark score on a college readiness exam (i.e., SAT, ACT, Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate) increased from 40.7 percent in 2015-16 to 42.6 percent in 2018-19.
“We are seeing signs that we are moving in the right direction when it comes to ensuring equitable outcomes for all of our students with the improvement among students with high needs outpacing state average improvement in both ELA and math. The six-year graduation rate for students with high needs is at its highest ever demonstrating that with extra time and support some of our most vulnerable students are able to persist and successfully complete high school,” said Deputy Commissioner Nesmith. “As an agency, we remain focused on working with our district and school partners to provide support and technical assistance when it comes to developing and implementing a strong academic core with high quality curriculum and systems that lead to every student achieving at high levels.”
The CSDE is also recognizing 162 schools across the state as Schools of Distinction for high overall performance, high academic growth, and/or improvement in overall performance. It is commendable that 42 of the 162 Schools of Distinction are in Alliance Districts; 37 of those schools are recognized for being among the schools with the highest academic growth (Indicator #2) in ELA and/or Math in the entire state.
The CSDE is also identifying 10 new Focus schools for state support because their academic achievement/growth of students with high needs is consistently among the lowest in the state. Last year, the CSDE identified 20 Focus schools for consistently low academic achievement/growth of students with high needs as well as 35 Turnaround schools for consistently low overall performance.
Offices across the CSDE are implementing evidence-based strategies to improve outcomes on the accountability indicators. These strategies include:
- Building the internal capacity of the CSDE cross-divisional review and support teams to effectively support the Alliance Districts and Commissioner’s Network schools;
- Providing greater access to data and information through public and secure portals and building the capacity of districts and schools to understand and use the information;
- Implementing tiered systems of support in areas of attendance, school discipline, and restorative and trauma-informed practices that remove barriers to success and maximize student potential;
- Increasing assessment literacy among local districts/schools so practitioners are better equipped to make strategic and appropriate use of local district assessments;
- Supporting early literacy success through specialized professional development which ensures that students receive scientifically research-based reading instruction;
- Supporting student academic achievement and school improvement through effective school, family and community partnerships; and
- Expanding the educator pipeline with specific focus on diversifying the workforce and filling vacancies in priority shortage areas with qualified educators.
All results and additional support materials are available on the CSDE’s data portal EdSight at http://edsight.ct.gov. Please note that the Connecticut Report Cards on EdSight will display the most recent available data on all indicators.
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