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> Position Statements > State Testing
State Testing
CAPSS Position on State Testing
CAPSS believes that student achievement is the foremost priority of public school districts in Connecticut. As superintendents, we remain committed to both high standards of student performance and accountability systems that assess the progress of students in reaching these standards.
The current system of state assessment is a useful component of this accountability system. We continue to support the State Board of Education in using the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) and Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) to improve instruction and promote achievement growth over time, while closing the achievement gap between poor children and their more affluent counterparts. (See the State Board of Education 9/13/00 Position on Measuring Success.)
As useful as the CMT and CAPT have been in focusing on student achievement, they should not be seen as the sole measure for assessing the full extent of either student learning or the success of public education in Connecticut. Despite the increasing sophistication of assessment measures, they still cannot adequately measure many tangible learning objectives, such as technological competence and other subject areas, or intangible aspects of learning, such as motivation and personal interaction skills, which are a cornerstone of later success in life. Single assessment measures, therefore, do not reflect the comprehensiveness of learning goals for which our schools are now held accountable. Moreover, determining a student's future opportunities based upon a single assessment would be, in our view, an injustice to many of the students we serve. Therefore, Connecticut's superintendents are adamantly opposed to any legislation that would require the use of State testing as a graduation requirement, or as the sole criterion for the promotion or retention of a child.
Aside from the pedagogical reasons we have delineated, we question the purpose of a high stakes test when by any measure of public school success, Connecticut is a leader in school and student performance in the country and often outperforms nations around the globe. The substantial expenditure which would be devoted to a high stakes test should instead be directed to programmatic improvements which would further extend the promise of public education to all of Connecticut's students.
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