Region 7 middle, elementary schools test well

REGION 7 — The 2010 Connecticut Master Test (CMT) scores have been posted, and Region 7 School District students performed well — with most grades achieving average proficiency results of 90 percent or better in each of the academic areas tested.

The CMT is an annually administered standardized test that is taken by every student in the state in grades three through  eight. It assesses academic progress in the content areas of mathematics, reading and writing, with Connecticut’s fifth- and eighth-graders also tested in a fourth subject, science.

The test has five levels of achievement for each area tested: below basic, basic, proficient, goal and advanced. The state released the 2010 CMT scores July 15.

The percentage of students scoring at or above the proficient level on the CMT is used to identify high schools and districts that are making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation.

If a school or subgroup within the school does not achieve AYP in the same content area for two consecutive years, the school is identified as “in need of improvement.†These districts and schools must work with the state to develop and implement a two-year improvement plan.

Region 7 School District — through the Northwestern Regional High/Middle School — serves the seventh- through 12th-grade students of the towns of Barkhamsted, Colebrook, New Hartford and Norfolk. Each of the four towns operate their own elementary schools for their kindergarten through sixth-graders.

This past school year, the district’s seventh- and eighth-grade students — who attend Northwestern Regional Middle School — achieved proficiency averages that were 90 percent or better across the board.

New Hartford’s sixth-graders also achieved a proficiency score of 90 percent or better in all three content categories, with Barkhamsted sixth graders scoring 90 percent or higher in math and reading, and an 89.6 percent proficiency in writing. Sixth grade scores for Norfolk and Colebrook were not posted by the state. Results are not presented for testing groups made up of fewer than 20 students.

The district’s fifth-graders also well, as the students averaged 90 percent or better in all four categories — with the exception of Colebrook’s students who had a proficiency score of 81.0 in reading — and Barkhamsted and Norfolk students achieving 100 percent proficiency in math.

Barkhamsted and New Hartford fourth-grade students also performed well on the 2010 CMT, notching proficiency scores of 90 percent or better in all three categories, except for reading, where New Hartford had an average of 87.2. Colebrook and Norfolk scores for this grade were not posted by the state.

And, in third grade, Norfolk and Colebrook students struggled some. Norfolk third-graders — who attend Botelle Elementary School — averaged a proficiency score of 77.8 percent in math, 72.0 in reading and 80.0 in writing. Colebrook Consolidated School students scored 85.7 percent proficiency average in math, 81.0 in reading and 71.4 in writing.

Barkhamsted Elementary School fourth-graders averaged 90 percent or better in proficiency in math and writing, and scored an average of 84.3 in reading. And New Hartford students scored 90 percent or better in all three categories.

In September, parents will receive CMT score reports that provide individual student performance data for their children, according to the state Department of Education.

For a complete listing of state and district-by-district standardized testing results for 2010, visit the Connecticut Student Assessment website at ctreports.com.