Capitol Region Education Council Announces Achievement Results

CREC is beginning the 2011-2012 school year in celebration of students' achievements and with a renewed focus on academic excellence. Great academic success was achieved in 2010-2011, as measured by the Connecticut standardized assessments. We attribute our students' continued growth to a strong, dedicated and exceptionally talented community of educators. The latest results from the Connecticut Mastery Test and Connecticut Academic Performance Test, show that students in CREC Schools continue to achieve at the highest level.

CREC Schools are in pursuit of EXCELLENCE. We continue to raise expectations and challenge students in new and innovative ways. The achievement of CREC students can go beyond standard State measures. As a result, partnerships have been established with international organizations such as Cambridge, International Baccalaureate, and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to pilot international assessments this year. International assessments will help benchmark student performance on a global scale.

District-Wide Achievement Continues to Soar

The Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) and Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) are given annually to ensure that schools and districts are offering every student equal access to a quality education.

District-wide, 90% of CREC students are meeting or exceeding the State's proficiency standard in math and 87% in reading on the CMT.
More than 80% of CREC's 10th grade students are meeting or exceeding the State's proficiency standard on CAPT math and reading.
CREC's fith grade students outperformed the State by 7 percentage points in math (95% CREC vs. 88% State) and by 12 percentage points in reading (87% CREC vs. 75% State).
District-wide, 89% of CREC's middle school students met or exceeded the State's proficiency standard in math and 85% in reading on the CMT

Connecticut's Achievement Gap Virtually Disappears at CREC Schools

Students in CREC Magnet Schools have significantly narrowed, even closed, the achievement gap that exists for Connecticut's students.

In grade 5, CREC Schools have eliminated the achievement gap between Hispanic and White students in reading. 97% of Hispanic students and 97% of White students met or exceeded the State's proficiency standard.
In grade 5, economically disadvantaged students attending CREC Magnet Schools outperformed their non-economically disadvantaged peers in both math (96% economically disadvantaged vs. 95% non-economically disadvantaged) and reading (88% economically disadvantaged vs. 87% non-economically disadvantaged).
At the Metropolitan Learning Center, the achievement gap has been eliminated in CAPT math with 97% of Black students and 94% of White students scoring at or above the State's proficiency standard.

Double-digit Achievement Gains at the Highest Levels of Goal and Advanced

The significant gains in achievement are attributed to the high expectations that permeate CREC Schools, coupled with the expert delivery of rigorous curricula. The bar is continuously raised for CREC students to prepare them to compete on a global scale.

District-wide, grade 4 reading increased from 56% to 76% at or above goal (CMT).
District-wide, grade 4 math increased from 63% to 74% at or above goal (CMT).
District-wide, grade 5 math increased from 71% to 82% at or above goal (CMT).
Overall in reading, 93% of Montessori students met or exceeded the State's proficiency standard, and 91% performed at goal and advanced, the highest levels of achievement on the CMT.
Montessori Magnet School students showed double-digit gains in math achievement at both the goal level (12.7%) and proficient level (13.5%) on the CMT (54% at or above goal to 66% and from 80% at or above proficient to 92%).
At the University of Hartford Magnet School (UHMS), the percent of students who scored at the two highest levels on the CMT (goal and advanced) in reading increased by 10 percentage points this year (from 60% to 70%).

CREC Magnet School Students Outperform State Average on the CAPT

The 10th grade students attending CREC Magnet Schools consistently outperformed State averages, and excelled in CAPT reading and math. These students, in a diverse and integrated environement, are on par with their suburban peers.

Black students attending CREC Magnet Schools outperformed the State on CAPT by 21 percentage points (80% CREC vs. 59% State) in math, and by 31 percentage points in reading (83% CREC vs. 52% State).
Hispanic students outperformed the State by 7 percentage points (67% CREC vs. 60% State) in CAPT math and by 11 percentage points in CAPT reading (76% CREC vs. 65% State).
Econonomically disadvantaged students outperformed the State by 17 percentage points in math (75% CREC vs. 58% State) and by 19 percentage points in reading (81% CREC vs. 62% State).