WESTPORT — At least 70 percent of all students are at or above benchmark math and literacy levels, but there’s still some lasting effects from the pandemic, officials said.
There was a mix in whether student groups improved or had lower scores in the state’s standardized tests scores, depending on the subject and grade, according results presented at a recent Board of Education meeting.
Key findings for Next Generation showed the performance of Westport’s students, overall, is significantly higher than state and national averages, Anthony Buono, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, told the Board of Education.
The Next Generation Accountability System has 12 indicators within it, including academic growth and achievement, chronic absenteeism, graduation preparedness, arts access and physical fitness, and a test for second graders for math and language arts.
“We have these standardized assessments, but we never use them in isolation when we evaluate student progress and performance,” Buono said. “We always look at other metrics in combination.”
The kindergarten through eighth grade achievement report shows student strengths and challenges, and help curate classroom instruction, provide specific student support and monitor student progress, he said.
Students in grades three through eight took the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment for math and a literacy test in spring 2023. The assessment shows what percent of students performed at or above benchmark levels in math.
In 2023, the results showed 81 percent of third and fourth graders met or exceeded the benchmark, along with 79 percent of fifth graders, 73 percent of sixth graders, 78 percent of seventh graders and 75 percent of eighth graders.
The highest increase was for fourth grade, which increased by 11 percentage points, compared to the previous school year. Third grade decreased by four points to 80 percent; grade five went up 5 percentage points to 79; grade six went down 1 point to 73 percent; grade seven went from 77 percent to 82 percent; and grade eight went from 70 to 78 percent.
The assessment for language arts addresses writing, reading and listening, Buono said.
Buono said in this category, third grade performed worse than the others, so the district plans on addressing it moving forward.
Third grade decreased by 9 percentage points last year compared to the 2021-22 school year, going from 85 to 74 percent of students at benchmark levels.
Fourth grade was up 7 percentage points to 86 percent, grade five went down 3 points to 82 percent, grade six also went down 3 points to 72 percent, grade seven went up three to 79 percent and grade eight went up by three to 78 percent.
Another test for math, administered this fall, is the NWEA Measures of Academic Progress. Buono said its primary use is to identify students with learning challenges.
Taking the average score from grades three through eight in fall 2019-2022, the most significant change was for seventh graders. Compared to this fall’s results, seventh graders went down 1.5 points. Fifth had the least significant change, down by 0.1 points. Eighth grade was the only one with a positive increase, at 0.2 points.
Buono said they look at students who are in the 40th percentile or lower to see who may need assistance in math. At least two-thirds of students in each grade were in the 60th percentile or above with 66.6 percent of third graders, 66.8 percent of fourth graders, 76.6 percent of fifth graders, 68.4 percent of sixth graders, 74.3 percent of seventh graders and 80.6 percent of eighth graders in that range.
NWEA also measures reading scores from fourth through eighth grade. Grade four went down 2.3 points from the average; grade five went up 0.9 points; grade six went town 2.1 points; and grades seven and eight both went down one point.
Grade four has 73.1 percent of students who are in the 60th percentile or greater, while grade five has 82.6 percent of students; grade six has 72 percent; grade seven has 67.2 percent; and grade eight has 70 percent.
Buono said they found a group of students in this category in third grade who were just below benchmark, and believe that with work throughout the year, many can get there. This is lower than typical.
“I’m not exactly sure why that is,” Buono said, adding it could be from the pandemic since they were learning foundational skills those years in kindergarten and first grade.
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