Principal Anne Watson accepted an award today from the Connecticut State Department of Education for Thompson Brook School’s designation as a “School of Distinction.” Among 1,200 public schools in Connecticut, TBS is one of 47 schools in 28 towns identified with the “Highest Overall Performance” designation.
Schools of Distinction were identified this year using CMT/CAPT 2011 and 2012 data. These standardized tests are used as benchmarks for rating each school, but instead of simply requiring students to reach proficiency in each discipline (math, reading, writing, and science) per federal No Child Left Behind standards, the ratings will give credit for continued growth of student performance beyond the proficiency level. Schools are rated from highest to lowest as “excelling,” “progressing,” “transitioning,” “review/focus,” and “turnaround.” The “distinction” label is separate from this five-tier rating system, and is reserved for schools that have either the highest-achieving subgroups, have the best overall student performance, or have made the most progress from one year to the next.
Schools identified as “Highest Overall Performance” have Student Performance Indexes (SPIs) greater than 88, and are performing within the top ten percent of schools across the State. These schools have achievement gaps less than ten SPI points for the majority of their subgroups and, if they are high schools, have met their respective graduation rate targets. Thompson Brook’s baseline SPI average for three school years, 2009 to 2012, is 95.6.
As part of the recognition ceremony today, the award-winning leaders collaborated to identify successful strategies that other schools might adopt to improve student performance.
Congratulations to Principal Watson, her staff, and the students of Thompson Brook School for this exemplary achievement.
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