In the state with the nation’s largest achievement gap, Connecticut’s 2009 test score results reveal minimal closure of that gap.

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Three major findings came out of Wednesday’s release of the 2009 Connecticut Mastery Test for elementary and middle school students and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test for high school students:

• Connecticut public school students’ scores generally gained in elementary and middle school but declined in high school. For example, elementary performance gains – defined as the gains made by the same group of kids from 3rd to 4th grades and from 4th to 5th grades – was 5.9 points. High school improvement – defined as the difference between this year’s 10th graders and last year’s 10th graders – declined 1.6 points.

• African American, Hispanic and low-income students’ scores are up just slightly more than the overall state average in elementary and middle school and declined slightly less than the state average in high school, causing minimal improvement in the state’s achievement gaps. For example, the Hispanic-White achievement gap for elementary school students shrank by just 0.2 points to 37.1 points.

• Three of the five largest cities outperformed the state in terms of performance gains on the CMT, with Hartford leading the way with a 4.2 point gain compared to the state average of 2.5 points. New Haven and Stamford had a 3.8 point gain, Waterbury gained 2.5 points and Bridgeport gained 2.4 points. In high school, Waterbury, Bridgeport and Hartford outperformed the state average for improvement.

“For the state with the nation’s largest achievement gap, Connecticut must use these yearly test scores to benchmark our progress towards closing that gap,” said Alex Johnston, ConnCAN Chief Executive Officer. “Despite encouraging progress from some of our largest cities towards closing our worst-in-the-nation achievement gap, progress statewide was marginal at best. We must redouble our commitment to improving Connecticut’s public schools.”

"We are greatly encouraged by the results in our city’s public schools,” said James L. Starr, executive director of Achieve Hartford!, a nonprofit organization of business and community leaders dedicated to supporting sustained education reform in Hartford. “There is still a long way to go. However, the reform strategy put in place by the Board of Education and Superintendent Adamowski is getting us closer to the goal of a high performing public school system, which is essential to Hartford’s future.”

The upcoming National Assessment of Educational Progress – known as the Nation’s Report Card – will be the definitive judgment of Connecticut’s progress towards closing its achievement gap and raising student achievement across the board as compared to all 50 states.

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The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) is an advocacy organization building a new movement of concerned Connecticut citizens working to create fundamental change in our education system. To learn more visit: www.conncan.org.