Report highlights five
most improved Bridgeport schools
Five Bridgeport Schools Rise to the Challenge
Schools make substantial academic gains despite budget constraints
BRIDGEPORT, CT, 9/4/08 — Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition (BCAC) has released its latest report that identifies the five Bridgeport schools that overcame tremendous hurdles to record substantial achievement gains over the last five years. The report also looks at their strategies for success.
Marilyn Ondrasik, Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition Executive Director, released the report, “Five Bridgeport Schools Rise to the Challenge,” today. “Despite the challenges of huge budget cuts, large class sizes, lack of textbooks and instructional supplies, five schools excelled,” Ondrasik said. “They are BCAC’s Honor Roll of schools.”
The five schools are Columbus, Beardsley, Hall, Hallen, and Winthrop. Two other schools, Read and Roosevelt, received honorable mention for notable improvement.
This report represents the first of its kind for Bridgeport Public Schools.
“We have high expectations for every student,” said School Superintendent John J. Ramos, Sr., at the press conference held jointly by the Board of Education and Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition. “Like most urban districts we have our share of challenges, but we are pleased that BCAC’s report shines a light on what is possible with a committed effort by our administrators, teachers, parents/guardians and supporting community, who are truly committed to educating our children.”
BCAC used a rigorous methodology to measure academic gains. It analyzed CMT and CAPT test scores over five years from the 2002 03 to the 2006 07 school year.
“We focused on schools with the greatest improvement rather than the highest performing schools,” said Marge Hiller, Co Chair of the Task Force and Director of the Bridgeport Public Education Fund. “We thought the examples of schools with substantial improvement would have more meaning and show that all schools can make such significant improvements. In any one year, test scores can go up or down, but BCAC wanted to highlight those schools that showed substantial and sustained improvement. “
The schools on BCAC’s Honor Roll ranked first, second, or third of all schools in the study in improvement on CMT scores in both reading and math for all students or a racial subgroup of students.
“Teamwork proved to be a critical and common element in the five schools,” said Hernan Illingworth, District PAC President and BCAC Task Force Co Chair. “Raising student proficiency takes the coordinated effort of principals, teachers, and students working with parents and the community. No school can make these kinds of gains without teamwork.”
Besides teamwork and data teams, BCAC found that class size, school readiness, math and literacy coaches, and availability of tutors were among factors that made a difference in these schools’ success.
“Each of these five schools has strong data teams that analyze student assessments and test scores to monitor student performance and shape teaching strategies,” Illingworth said.
What other factors created success? At the Honor Roll schools, students and parents shared responsibility with teachers and administrators, and learning was fun. Community partnerships helped improve student achievement. All five schools have community partnerships with businesses, churches, civic organizations, hospitals or universities.
Key elements of the astounding improvement in the Honor Roll schools include:
o Two schools showed an increase of 40% MORE of their students reaching Proficiency and above over the five years.
o Two schools showed a decrease of more than 30% of their students in the lowest performing category, Below Basic.
o One school improved its test scores for African American students so much that no African American student scored at the lowest performing level, Below Basic, in 4th grade math.
Bridgeport Schools Rise to Challenge, p. 3
o Two schools showed improvements for their African American students that exceeded the state requirements for 2006 07.
o And while national data shows 8th grade a particularly challenging time for students, one school showed significant improvement for its 8th grade Latino students.
Funding for this report came from the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund and The Perrin Family Foundation.
This report follows another education report, “Denied, Delayed, Diverted: Problems with Funding School Repair Projects in Bridgeport,” from one year ago. That report found serious problems with the city approval and funding process for school repair projects that resulted in deteriorating Bridgeport schools. The Mayor and the Board of Education made changes this year to address concerns identified in BCAC’s report.
The Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition is a coalition of organizations, parents, and concerned individuals committed to improving the well-being of Bridgeport’s children through research, advocacy, community education and mobilization. The Task Force has worked for many years to publicize and address inequities in state funding for education distributed to Connecticut’s cities and towns.
Media Contacts:
Catherine Onyemelukwe, Director, Development and Communications, BCAC
203-549-0075 x 14, conyemelukwe@bcacct.org, Fax: (203) 549-0203 or
Marilyn Ondrasik, Executive Director, BCAC, 203-549-0075 x 11, mondrasik@bcacct.org