ConnCAN News Release - July 15, 2008

High School Achievement Gap Widens Even As Statewide Scores Improve
Significant Gains in Stamford, Several Urban Schools in Other Districts Secure 5+ Point Increases

Contact: Marc Porter Magee
Tel: 203-772-4017 x14
Cell: 203-586-9313
Email: marc.magee@conncan.org

 Download ConnCAN's 2008 CAPT Analysis Charts

The 2008 results from the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) reveal a growing achievement gap across the state of Connecticut even as the percentage of students meeting the state goals increased. At the same time, a number of urban high schools made significant gains over the past year.

According to ConnCAN's analysis of the 2007 and 2008 CAPT results, the achievement gap increased in 10 of 12 categories across the four subject areas and the racial, ethnic, and income gap categories.

• While on average African-American, Hispanic and low-income scores increased, the racial, ethnic, and income achievement gaps in Connecticut widened across the board in the subjects of math, reading and writing.
• In science, the racial and ethnic achievement gap declined slightly, while the income achievement gap increased slightly.
• Across the 12 measures of the achievement gap on the 2008 CAPT, the gap ranged from a low of 38.7 points (the white/Hispanic reading gap) to a high of 48.5 points (the African-American/white math gap).

Connecticut's five largest districts all made gains, with an average gain of 0.3 points in the percentage of students meeting the state goals in Hartford, 1.6 points in New Haven, 1.9 in Waterbury, 2.2 points in Bridgeport, and 7.3 points in Stamford. However, the gains for Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury, and Bridgeport were smaller than the statewide average gain of 2.9 points, meaning that the gap between these cities and the state average increased in terms of the percentage of students meeting the state goal.

Measured in terms of gains in proficiency (a lower standard than goal), all five districts beat the statewide average of 2.6 points, with a 3.5 point gain for Waterbury, a 4.2 point gain for Hartford, a 5.1 point gain for New Haven, a 5.8 point gain for Bridgeport, and a 6.3 point gain for Stamford.

At the same time, a number of schools within Connecticut's five largest districts saw significant improvements in the percentage of students meeting the state goals. The ten schools making the greatest gains were:

• 11.6 point gain: Stamford Academy-Info Tech, Stamford.
• 8.4 point gain: Classical Magnet School, Hartford.
• 8.1 point gain: Pathways to Technology, Hartford.
• 8.0 point gain: Westhill High School, Stamford.
• 7.6 point gain: New Haven Academy, New Haven.
• 6.6 point gain: Common Ground, New Haven.
• 6.3 point gain: Stamford High School, Stamford.
• 5.3 point gain: Wilbur Cross, New Haven.
• 5.3 point gain: The Bridge Academy, Bridgeport.
• 5.0 point gain: Hill Regional Career, New Haven.

In its first year of CAPT results, the new Amistad High School in New Haven got off to a promising start, with an average of 71 percent of students meeting the state goal, 21 points above the state average and more than 50 points above the district averages for New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford.

"The statewide gains we have made this year are worth celebrating," said Alex Johnston, executive director of ConnCAN. "At the same time, we know that closing America's largest achievement gap will require securing even greater gains in the coming years, particularly among those students who have fallen the furthest behind. We know this is possible because of the number of individual schools that have made significant gains with these students. Our challenge now is to make the system-wide changes and investments needed to ensure every child in every town and city in Connecticut has access to a great public high school."

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The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) is a statewide outreach, education, and research organization working to close Connecticut's achievement gap. To learn more visit: www.conncan.org.