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Greenwich Schools Chief 'Not Satisfied' With State Test Scores

GREENWICH, Conn. -- Greenwich Superintendent of Schools William McKersie said in a news release that he was "not satisfied" with the district's scores on this year's state standardized tests.

Greenwich Superintendent of Schools William McKersie said the district always pushes for the best.

Greenwich Superintendent of Schools William McKersie said the district always pushes for the best.

Photo Credit: Anna Helhoski, File

Students who do not have free or reduced price lunches, which is roughly 85-percent of Greenwich's public school students, scored above the "goal" score of proficiency in nearly every category.

The other roughly 15-percent of Greenwich's students who are on free and reduced-price lunches scored "well below" their peers, according to the release.

"Greenwich needs to know that this district always pushes for the best," McKersie said in a statement. "We had been narrowing this achievement gap over the past four years, but the new results show the gap has widened. Moreover, our top performing students have begun to plateau in their results--scoring at a high level, but in the aggregate with minimal improvements annually."

Greenwich did remain one of the highest-scoring districts in the state, despite a statewide drop in test scores.

Greenwich students scores at goal on the 2013 Connecticut Mastery Tests for grades three to eight increased in some areas and declined in others. Connecticut Academic Performance Test scores for 10th-grade students show increases statewide at the goal level in each area tested except writing. Similarly, Greenwich students CAPT scores increased at the goal level in each area tested except writing.

McKersie did emphasize that despite scores that were not quite as good as the district hoped for, schools are in the process of transitioning to a whole new way off assessing students with the Common Core and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.

"Personalized learning, digital learning and professional learning will be key tools as we move forward," McKersie said in the statement. "Going forward, we will be using a more rigorous and comprehensive assessment system. This transition will be a challenge, but will help energize and focus all professionals in the district."

See the statewide CMT and CAPT test results here.

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