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Since the late 1990s the district has sought to post scores that would be in the top 25 percent of its district reference group (DRG), a collection of 21 districts with similar demographics that the state Board of Education has grouped together for the purpose of analyzing their performance.
Although the school district has not reached that goal, Dr. Slone said in an interview that DRG B, which includes such wealthy municipalities as Greenwich, West Hartford and Simsbury, is "very competitive."
Deborah Wheeler, her immediate predecessor, who is now the superintendent in Litchfield, has said that sometimes a fraction of a point might make the difference in ranking four places higher on a particular test.
Dr. Slone said that Huckleberry Hill Elementary School (HHES) and Brookfield High School (BHS), where 10th-grade students take the Connecticut Academic Performance Test, both have achieved the annual yearly progress status that is assigned by the state and Whisconier Middle School (WMS) has achieved the "safe harbor" status for the last three years for reading targets and the last two years for math targets for students with disabilities.
In reading, Brookfield had a proficiency rate of 89.9 percent for the third-graders; 88.1 percent for the fourth-graders; 91 percent for the fifth-graders; 91.1 percent of the sixth-graders; 94.6 percent of the seventh-graders; and 94.4 percent of the eighth-graders.
In math, the school district had a proficiency rate of 96.6 among the third-graders; 95 percent among the fourth-graders; 96 percent among the fifth-graders; 96.7 percent among the sixth-graders; 97.5 percent among the seventh-graders and 98 percent among the eighth-graders.
In writing, Brookfield had a proficiency rate of 96.8 percent among the third-graders; 95.9 percent with the fourth-graders; 96.1 percent among the fifth-graders; 90.9 percent with the sixth-graders; 89.3 percent with the seventh-graders; and 94.8 percent among the eighth-graders.
On the science test, which is administered to two grades, 91.2 percent of the fifth-grade students were at least at the proficiency level and 92.8 percent of the eighth-grade students.
Educators have said that Connecticut has been at the forefront of standardized testing, since it established a series of exams in the late 1980s and early 1990s following the enactment of the Education Enhancement Act, which raised standards within the teaching profession.
As a result of the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind legislation, the state now administers the test in the third through eighth grades after just covering the fourth, sixth and eighth grades in the earlier years.
Dr. Slone said she supports having the annual testing.
"I do think it can more succinctly and accurately measure students' growth every year," she said of the CMT, which largely measures higher-order thinking skills.
"This is an excellent test," Dr. Slone said. "This is what students need to be citizens in the 21st century."
Some educators have questioned the value of having standardized tests in the elementary grades.
However, Dr. Slone said teachers should utilize a "variety of assessments" in evaluating student performance, including their own in-class exams.
She said that under the Connecticut Accountability Learning Initiative there is more computerized data available for educators to consider and teachers are meeting in groups to analyze that information in an effort to boost student performance.
Dr. Slone said that Brookfield administrators did professional development recently in which they studied modules on various assessments of student performance.
The assistant superintendent said that, among other things, the school district will attempt to improve student performance on the CMT by using a variety of reading programs, math labs and the development of "common formative assessments" for kindergarten through 12th grade.
