Gilbert School does not make grade with statewide coalition

WINSTED — A New Haven-based education coalition has just issued its 2010 report cards for public schools and has given low grades to The Gilbert School.

The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCan) gave The Gilbert School a D+ in the area of overall student performance, a D- in the area of student subgroup performance and a C- in the area of achievement gap.

The school’s performance gains were not graded on ConnCan’s report card.

The report cards were based on data from the 2007-08 school year. Grades were determined by the results of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT), which is administered each spring to 10th-graders throughout the state.

The CAPT measures student achievement in the areas of mathematics, reading, writing and science.

The coalition assigns letter grades to more than 1,000 state public schools and 160 school districts based on student achievements in four categories: performance gains, overall student performance, student subgroup performance and achievement gap.

The performance gains grade is based on the average one-year change among a group of students in meeting state goals across all subjects.

The overall student performance grade is based on the average of percentage of students who meet state goals across all subjects.

The student subgroup performance grade is based on an average percentage of low-income, African-American and Hispanic students meeting state goals across all subjects.

The achievement gap grade is based on the average gap between the performance of low-income and minority students versus the performance of non-low-income and white students.

Gilbert School Superintendent David Cressy said the 2007-08 school year was a low point for the school.

“In terms of student performance, we were not pleased during that school year,� Cressy said. “It’s important to know that in the following school year, [ConnCan] singled Gilbert out as having the highest student improvement in the CAPT test.�

Cressy added that the class from 2007-08 has already graduated.

“I’m not a big fan of report cards, but these things need to be put into context,â€� Cressy said.