East Haven Schools Struggle in State's New Grading System

With the exception of The Academy, East Haven Public Schools' standardized testing scores remain well below state targets for academic performance, according to a new rating system developed by the state education department

The Connnecticut Department of Education recently released a database that shows how each school in the state has performed for the last three years based on "an average of student performance in all tested grades and subjects for a given school."

Each school is given an SPI, or Student Performance Index, as measured by the Connecticut Mastery Tests for students in grades 3 to 8 and the CAPT test for 10th graders.

The higher the SPI, the more students are reaching the top level or "goal" of those standardized tests. Schools are then given a goal for the following school year.

East Haven Schools' SPIs

Here's how East Haven Public Schools performed:

According to a news release issued by the State Department of Education, the state's target for schools is an 88 on a scale of 1-100.

“The state’s new school accountability and support framework enables more precise, more helpful snapshots of school performance,” Commissioner Stefan Pryor said. “By heralding schools making significant progress and highlighting schools in need of greater support, the system will also help districts and the state focus our efforts where they are needed most.”

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An Alliance District

East Haven School District is also one of the state education department's Alliance Districts, which is made up of the state's 30 lowest-performing school systems.

The Alliance program seeks to provide additional funds to each of the member districts for enhancements and reforms focused on improving student performance.

As part of the program, East Haven Schools is slated to receive some from the state for fiscal 2012-13.

Additionally, East Haven received a supplemental grant that allowed the district to expand its School Readiness preschool program this year.

CMT, CAPT Performance

According to 2011-12 resuts — with the exception of the East Haven Academy, which continues to have strong academic achievement on standardized testing — East Haven Public School scores on both the CMT and CAPT tests remain below the state average in most individual testing areas.

In 2011, three East Haven schools got a reprieve from the state as far as standardized test scores when their No Child Left Behind status was officially reset after not meeting Annual Yearly Progress standards.

Momauguin Elementary School and Joseph Melillo Middle School had their status' reset from "safe harbor" to making "adequate yearly progress."

Last spring, however, the state was granted a waiver by the federal Department for Education regarding meeting certain NCLB requirements.