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Cheshire School District reviews five‑year assessment trends, highlights growth and next steps
Summary
District officials presented five‑year state assessment and growth data showing progress in math and middle grades, flagged lower results in third grade ELA and 11th grade NGSS science, and directed staff to report on chronic absenteeism correlations and planned interventions.
Cheshire School officials presented five‑year results from state assessments and internal growth measures at a school board meeting, summarizing achievement trends, areas of concern and follow‑up steps.
The presentation, given to the Cheshire School District Board of Education, reviewed Smarter Balanced results for grades 3–8, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) results for grades 5, 8 and 11, and SAT School Day results for 11th graders. District leaders emphasized student growth as a priority and described targeted curriculum and coaching responses.
District staff said 52.7% of students met their growth target in English language arts and 58.8% met the growth target in math for the most recent administration; the district reported the average percent of each student’s target achieved was about 71% in ELA and 75.4% in math. Presenters noted math achievement in grades 3–8 has improved and that fifth‑grade NGSS performance was strong (reported at 83.1%), while results decline in eighth and eleventh grades. On the SAT School Day, the district reported a small drop in ELA from 80.2 to 79.9 and a math gain from 49.5 to 54.9.
Officials attributed some gains to targeted coaching, revised middle‑school math curriculum and enrichment programs. The presentation named several district strategies in use or under consideration: expanded coaching and professional development for teachers, middle‑school curriculum changes, use of iReady in grades 7–8 and Algebra I, enrichment “academies” led by the district’s talented‑and‑gifted teacher Laurie Holm, and neighborhood‑level sharing of effective classroom practices between Dodd Middle School and Cheshire High School.
Superintendent Marlene (name given in the meeting) framed growth as the priority: "We want kids to meet 100% of their growth target, and that is the aim," she told board members while describing coaching and deployment of focused supports.
Board members raised multiple concerns: a decline identified in third‑grade ELA that the district plans to target with teacher coaching and training; lower NGSS performance in 11th grade possibly affected by test timing and students’ attitudes toward testing; and classroom‑to‑classroom variability that the district said it is addressing through calibration and norming activities for teachers.
The board asked staff to explore whether chronic absenteeism trends correlate with assessment results going back to 2018–19; staff agreed to include chronic absenteeism percentages and related analysis in the packet for the board’s next meeting on Thursday. That request was recorded as direction to staff rather than a formal vote.
No new policy was adopted during the presentation. The board and staff also discussed the district’s difficulty finding NGSS‑aligned materials at some grade levels and said the district is considering adopting OpenSciEd resources, which are free but would require staff time to adapt and write units.
Board members and staff also described efforts to publicize student results to families, including providing detailed individualized reports at parent‑teacher conferences and using iReady and other classroom assessments to inform instruction.
The meeting closed the item by thanking the team that compiled the report and by noting further packet materials will include chronic absenteeism data and additional detail on the third‑grade focus.
