    
The State of Connecticut Public Education: A 2008 Report Card for Connecticut Public Schools Preface by Alex Johnston, Executive Director For the last three years, ConnCAN has published an annual State of Connecticut Public Education report, taking a closer look at our state's latest achievement data. After three years, many trends we highlighted in 2006 are still present, and our state's most pressing economic and social issue The purpose of this report is to shed light on both the successes and challenges in our state's public schools and to examine the underlying patterns in student achievement. Whether you're a parent searching for the best public school for your child, an educator who wants to know how your district or school measures up, or a community leader looking for practical analysis, we hope this report is a useful starting point for discussion of how to increase student achievement in our state. In a challenging economic period, we're reminded that providing all of Connecticut's students with a great education is the best way to maintain our state's competitive edge in the 21st century. That's why this year, the report also provides national and international context for our achievement data. Holding all public schools and districts to high benchmarks of success is the first step in ensuring that all children get the education they deserve--and that all of us get the highest possible return on the public investment in our schools. In addition to this research report, ConnCAN has published our 2008 School and District Report Cards (www.ctreportcards.org), which give letter grades to more than 1,000 schools and 160 districts in the state. New this year is "Mapping the Gap," a compilation of maps that visually documents many of the issues in this report. ConnCAN's mission is to close the state's achievement gap, and this report builds a foundation of research to further the efforts of so many who are working hard every day to achieve that goal. I hope that this report helps further your understanding of Connecticut public education as a whole, and I invite you to contact me directly with your comments on this report and your thoughts on how to reach the common goal of "Great Schools for All." Introduction by Tori Truscheit , Research and Policy Manager Where do Connecticut students stand? How much progress has Connecticut made towards closing the largest achievement gap in the nation? ConnCAN's third annual State of Connecticut Public Education report draws upon state, national and international tests to examine how well our public education system is serving its students. Where Does Connecticut Stand? In elementary school, on average, 0.1 percent fewer students met the state goal across the subjects tested than in 2007. In middle school, the percent of students meeting goal increased by 1.3 points. High school scores increased this year, improving 4.1 points (51.2 percent of students met the state goal, up from 47.1 percent in 2007). Fifth and eighth graders took state science tests for the first time this year, and they performed worse in science than in reading, writing, and math. In science, 55.2 percent of fifth graders met the state goal, while an average of 64.3 percent met goal in other subjects. Poor, African-American and Hispanic fifth graders struggled with the test in particular, averaging 12.9 points lower on the science test than on the reading, writing, and math tests. Internationally, Connecticut's achievement ranks far below world leaders. In a matchup of Connecticut's 2007 National Assessment of Education Progress and the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, half as many Connecticut students were proficient in math as Singaporean students. Our poor and Hispanic students score below Moldova, and our African-American students tie with Jordan and score less than half as high as Bulgaria. Connecticut's achievement gap between poor and non-poor students, already the largest achievement gap of any state, increased from last year across all grade levels. The gap between white students and both African-American and Hispanic students also increased--in elementary, middle, and high school. The achievement gap is most acute in high school. The gap between our African-American and white high school sophomores increased to 44.1 points. Consistent with research findings from around the country, this year's achievement data shows that poverty is one dimension of Connecticut's ethnic and racial achievement gaps, but it does not describe the entire gap. Poor white students score significantly higher than poor African-American and Hispanic students. In fact, poor white students score higher than non-poor African-American students in elementary, middle, and high school. Where Do Connecticut Districts Stand? State achievement as a whole was largely unchanged in elementary and middle school, but several urban districts improved at a higher rate than the state average. Of Connecticut's five largest districts, Hartford and New Haven beat the state average for performance gains in elementary and middle school (3.5 points and 2.6 points to the state's 1.9 points, respectively). Hartford turned around a ten-year downtrend this year, improving at a faster rate than the state. Despite these gains, science emerged as a key area for improvement in Connecticut's largest cities. Where Do Connecticut Schools Stand? Just as large districts made gains over the past year, many individual schools are leading the way in closing the achievement gap. ConnCAN recognizes the top 10 elementary and middle schools in the categories of Performance Gains, Improvement, African-American Achievement, Hispanic Achievement, and Low-Income Achievement. Sixteen schools reached at least one of these lists for the second year in a row. While Connecticut's public charter schools failed to post the large performance gains seen in the previous two years, Connecticut's technical high school system showed strong improvement for the second year in a row, with six appearances on the top 10 schools lists for improvement, African-American achievement, Hispanic achievement, and low-income achievement.
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remains: Connecticut has the largest achievement gap of any state in the country. But we've also seen progress in these three years, and there are encouraging signs in our largest cities that the hard work of many is beginning to show results.