Botelle students’ performance in math not only outstripped the statewide average for its non-high-needs students, as measured by the Smarter Balanced Assessment of Academic Progress, but also reflected a significantly higher percentage of all students who met or exceeded growth rate targets.
Smarter Balanced testing looks at two areas of achievement, performance and the students’ rate of growth. Statewide, 63.1 percent of all students met or exceeded the performance standards.
When Botelle’s high-needs students are factored into the 2024-25 performance results, the school achieved a 57 percent rate. More than half of the students at the school are considered to have high needs, defined as those with a disability, who are English as a Second Language learners, or are eligible for free- or reduced-price meals.
Last year, Botelle was recognized as a School of Distinction for the growth its students achieved and this year the results were even better. The testing showed that 74 percent of Botelle School students met or exceeded growth standards on the math portion of the assessment compared to a 60 percent average statewide, school principal Lauren Valentino recently told the Board of Education.
“I don’t think that growth was accidental,” Valentino said after the meeting. “We made an outstanding amount of growth from the previous year. Overall, we are below the state average, but if the students’ skills are growing, they are going to close the gap.”
An additional six students out of the 55 pupils attending the school were “very close to meeting the benchmark,” said school Superintendent Kevin Case. “Our goal now is to move them into the ‘meets standard’ band.”
“A high percentage of the students were right on cusp of meeting performance standards,” agreed Valentino, “and we expect their performance will continue to rise. If they had each answered one or two questions differently, we would have been at an overall performance rate of 71 percent.”
Case said the school staff is excited about the improving math scores. “Last year we put a laser-like focus on math, working with students in small groups or individually based on their needs. We gave specific feedback [about their work] and collaboratively set goals. It proved to be a great increase due to the teachers and students working hard.”
Botelle’s English/language arts assessment remained flat, however, with no upward trend. Reading scores have typically been higher than math in Connecticut schools and Case said the staff will now take part in professional development through ReadConn, a free state Department of Education professional learning series for K-3 teachers.
The Smarter Balanced Assessments performance results are useful, but the Botelle staff particularly focuses on the growth of the individual in a tiny school where small changes can easily sway percentages. “We look carefully at the goals for each student’s growth,” Case said. “Many of our students exceeded those goals. For Lauren and me, that is what is important. Hypothetically, when you have four sixth graders, three with special needs, and one has bad day on the day of the test, you can imagine the test results will not be an accurate reflection.”