Schools crack top 10 on progress list
By Alexandra Fenwick, The Advocate, January 6, 2007

NORWALK - An independent school research group named several lower Fairfield County schools to its top 10 list of those making significant progress in shrinking the gap between white and minority students on standardized test scores.

Greenwich's Hamilton Avenue School and Norwalk's Kendall Elementary School took the No. 3 and No. 10 spots, respectively, for most improved on Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now's list. Norwalk's Side by Side Community School and Stamford's Scofield Magnet Middle School were among the most improved middle schools, ranking No. 7 and No. 10, respectively.

Richard C. Briggs in Norwalk was the only area high school to be named in the top 10, at No. 7.

Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, known as ConnCAN, is a New Haven-based nonprofit group dedicated to bridging the achievement gap between white and minority students. ConnCAN released its top 10 list last month.

Elementary, middle and high schools were graded on overall improvement, student performance gains and the number of low-income, black and Hispanic students meeting state testing goals. The rankings were based on scores on the Connecticut Mastery Test, given to students in grades three through eight, and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, given to 10th-graders.

"You see not the perennial high performers but the ones doing the most with students that are traditionally underserved," ConnCAN spokesman Marc Porter Magee said.

Norwalk Schools Superintendent Salvatore Corda said ConnCAN's effort to put student achievement scores in context is valuable. The federal No Child Left Behind act gives a school a passing or failing grade, but it does not distinguish whether schools made progress in general.

"ConnCAN is trying to identify in a reasonable way of assessing the performance of schools and the improvement that takes place in the context of No Child Left Behind," Corda said. "NCLB tends to look at things in absolute terms and doesn't take into account variables that we know have an impact that affect performance, and this report looks at those variables."

For specific groups, Stamford's Westover Magnet Elementary School took top honors, with 66.7 percent of Hispanic students within goal range across all subjects. Westover was No. 2 for low-income students, with 65.8 percent meeting the goal.

"It's great that Westover is being recognized, because what they do is not rocket science," said Joshua Starr, Stamford Public Schools superintendent. "Westover teachers collaborate regularly, they have common assessments, use differentiated instruction and have a rigid adherence to the core curriculum - and anyone following those same practices will get the same results."

Corda said analyzing performance data has been the key to success in Norwalk's district.

"I think that the work that is being done at Kendall, Briggs and Nathan Hale is really consistent with what we've been trying to do across the district in looking at performance data in as detailed a way as possible, looking at where students need help and then providing that help to improve performance," Corda said.

Beyond being recognized as one of the most improved schools in the state, Norwalk's Kendall Elementary ranked sixth for the percentage of black students within goal range across all subjects.

Stamford's Scofield Magnet Middle School also made ConnCAN's top 10 for performance gains by Hispanic students. Nearly 54 percent of Scofield's Hispanic students met the goal, placing the school sixth on the group's list.

Among high schools meeting Hispanic achievement goals, Greenwich High ranked seventh, with 32.4 percent of its Hispanic population making the grade.

ConnCAN spokesman Magee said he believes the two-year-old nonprofit is the only independent organization that puts out school and district report cards.

"No one's ever brought it all together so you can look at all schools across the state," Magee said. "People wanted to know, what are the schools that are really doing a good job?"

Magee said all schools are different, but the nonprofit group's top 10 honorees show similarities.

"It seems to be more a function of what's happening inside the schools instead of money coming into the schools," Magee said. "In general, they are all schools with strong leaders. If you talk to the principal, they have a clear plan for success. There is a great deal of teacher buy-in and high levels of teacher morale.

"And teachers don't make excuses when kids fall behind. They try to adjust their teaching skills to meet them where they are, and bring them up. They're constantly trying to improve and figure out how to do things better."