The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 requires a statewide school accountability system. As part of this system, school districts receiving assistance under Title I must prepare and disseminate annual accountability reports which present the performance of students in mathematics and reading on the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT). There is also information about the qualifications of teachers based on the federal definition of highly qualified teachers.
The state was required to set three levels of achievement, Basic, Proficient and Advanced. The mastery Goal standard that Connecticut has used on all state reports, and continues to use, to measure student achievement, is more demanding than the Proficient level, but not as high as the Advanced level.
Because the figures in this report were calculated using the NCLB school accountability decision rules, rather than the state student assessment decision rules, they will be different than the performance percentages found in the Strategic School Profiles and the CMT and CAPT reports. In this report, the percentage of students at each level of performance is based on all eligible students enrolled in the district in the grades that are tested (4, 6, 8 and 10). In state student assessment reports, the percentages are based only on those students who have valid test scores. The CMT data presented in the NCLB reports are based on where students attended school the year previous to testing; therefore schools such as K-3 elementary schools will receive a report even though they do not have a grade 4, 6 or 8; and, schools with a K-2 grade range, have grade 6 only, or that opened in 2001 will not have assessment results on their NCLB report.
Starting with the 2002-03 school year, the state must set performance objectives for each year in reading and mathematics. The 2001-02 school year testing data is used as the baseline. A performance objective is the minimum percentage of students who must reach the Proficient level or above. In order for a district or school to make adequate yearly progress (AYP), its students overall, and groups of students categorized as eligible for free or reduced price meals, enrolled in special education, having limited English proficiency, or from major racial and ethnic groups, must meet the minimum Proficient objectives. Also 95% of the school enrollment must participate in the assessments which include out-of-level testing and the CMT/CAPT skills checklist. If a Title I school does not make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years, it is so identified and will be subject to a specific set of consequences.
There are still significant questions about exactly how AYP will be calculated and the potential for further Congressional action and/or United States Department of Education definition; therefore, the data in this NCLB report does not reflect the final method for calculating AYP. The data do not reflect: the final subgroup size that will be reported; the number of months a student attended a school (students with less than one school year will be excluded in the future); the impact of a safe harbor provision for schools making progress although not enough for AYP; a graduation rate for each district and school; and a third academic indicator (e.g., attendance rate) for elementary and middle schools.
MONROE SCHOOL DISTRICT REPORTS ARE VIEWABLE AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION'S WEB SITE:
Go Directly to Monroe Public Schools Reports:
http://www.csde.state.ct.us/public/der/schools/nclb_reports.htm#Monroe
Go to the State Department of Educations Web Site:
http://www.state.ct.us/sde/
Go to the State Department of Educations NCLB Summary:
http://www.state.ct.us/sde/AYPunderNCLB04.pdf
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