Wilton’s school administration is proud of its continuing growth in mainstream academic achievement, which was highlighted by positive standardized test results this week.
At the same time, however, discussions are underway about how to improve the gap between mainstream students and special education, according to Wilton’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Chuck Smith.
Smith gave the Board of Education a detailed overview of the latest Wilton results from various state assessments on Thursday, Sept. 4, including the Smarter Balance Assessment (SBA), CT Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and Advanced Placement (AP).
Highlights of the Wilton results showed that grade 11 was ranked number three in the state for the NGSS, while Wilton’s SAT scores in both math and evidence-based reading and writing (EBRW) were rated the second highest in the entire state.
Results also showed that both grades 5 and 7 achieved the third highest in the state in English language arts (ELA) for the SBA, with grade 7 making number one in the state in SBA math, and grade 8 making number 5 in SBA math.
Several charts in Smith’s presentation, however, showed the large disparity between percentages of mainstream and special education students achieving test benchmark levels.
For grades 3-8 in the SBA ELA, the differences in percentage points between students with disabilities and those without ranged roughly from 30% to 50%, with the biggest gap being the 52.8% differences between grade 4 students without disabilities, 84.8% of which met benchmark, as opposed to 32% of grade 4 students with disabilities.
A similar gap was shown for SBA math, with a range between the two groups averaging around 45% depending on the grade level.
For the NGSS, passing percentages between special education and non-special education students showed a similar difference of around 40%, with grades 5, 8 and 11 being tested. The largest difference was in grade 11, where 94% of non-special education students passed, versus 49% of special education students.
Passing percentages for the SATs in Wilton was 98.4% for non-special education students in EBRW, versus 67.5% for special education students. In Math, 86.9% of Wilton’s non-special education students passed, compared to 32.6% of the special education students.
Vice Chair Nicola Davies raised the main question on the disparity.
“Every year you come and do this presentation,” Davies said, “and every year you talk about the gap between typical kids and special education-receiving kids, and it’s always like, ‘Yeah, there’s still a gap.'”
“We’ve been hearing that for a few years now and there’s no further detail,” she said.
Smith acknowledged the issue.
“There’s still a gap, but over time we’ve been narrowing that. I would like to see greater narrowing, but it’s hard. Y’know, kids wouldn’t be in special ed if they weren’t below grade level,” Smith said.
“I do want to see us narrow the gap, but when we narrow the gap, the kids should be exited from special ed,” he said.
He described how generally the secondary level sees more issues with social and emotional problems, where at the elementary level there are more direct learning issues. Still, he said, any issue that impacts a student’s learning can lead them to special education.
“There has to be an impact on their educational performance to receive special ed support and services,” he said.
BOE Chair Ruth DeLuca raised a question earlier on about resources and how their distribution and/or abundance could be impacting student performance.
“I was just wondering if there were other changes, or resource changes, or changing levels of resources in different ways, or additional resources, that we need?” DeLuca said.
Smith indicated it wasn’t necessarily about the school’s resources, but possibly its approach.
“I think what I’m most concerned about is the achievement gap between general ed and special education,” Smith said. “I don’t know that putting more resources, meaning people or things, would be helpful. I’d like to see us do things a little bit differently.”
Smith said that he and Melissa Barrett, who was recently named assistant superintendent for special services, have begun having discussions around that idea.
“The traditional way which special ed intervention works is, we assess students, we notice where their deficits are, and we start working on those deficits, hoping that somehow they’ll catch up,” he said.
“I’m starting to think that that model might not be the best way to do this,” Smith said, explaining that by focusing on deficits not achieved previously, the student, in turn, missing out on the current content, leading to a larger gap.
“So, we’re beginning discussions with the coordinators and with Melissa,” he said, entertaining ideas around new approaches.
Superintendent Kevin Smith made note of Wilton’s achievement for special education students over time, as compared to other Connecticut districts.
“You really have to look at the growth numbers … There are unbelievable growth results for our most struggling learners,” Kevin Smith said.
“Last year, we had the greatest acceleration, I think, in the state,” he said, in comparison to other K-12 districts of comparable size.
“We’re one of the strongest in terms of closing the achievement gap and addressing our special ed students,” he said, adding after a long pause, “and we’ve got a ton of work to do.”