Key Points
- Wilton’s districtwide ELA, math and science results remained above Connecticut’s performance targets.
- Students with disabilities recorded lower scores in all three subjects compared with the previous year.
- The achievement gaps between students with and without disabilities widened in ELA, math and science.
Why It Matters: Wilton’s strong overall scores can obscure substantial differences among student groups, making the widening special education gaps an important measure of whether all students are benefiting from district improvements.
Students in the Wilton school district continued to perform well above state targets in English language arts (ELA), math and science during the 2025-26 school year, according to data released Monday by the Connecticut State Department of Education.
Wilton’s districtwide results remained among the strongest in Connecticut. However, newly released data also showed that achievement gaps between students with and without disabilities widened in all three subjects.
Wilton Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Smith said while district educators are proud of their students’ achievement, they continue to work on disparities among student groups.
Last year, Board of Education members expressed concern about the achievement gap between general education students and students who receive special education services.
“The district has been engaged in a multi-year continuous improvement process to strengthen achievement and narrow achievement gaps. That work continues and we still have much work to do,” Smith said via email after the state released the results. “The curriculum changes we’ve made in recent years in mathematics and ELA are yielding positive results and we provide a robust professional learning program for our teachers. We all look forward to continuing the efforts that are currently underway.”
Wilton Remains Above State Targets
Statewide assessment scores showed gains in mathematics and science in 2025-26 for the fourth consecutive year, with scores in those subjects moving closer to pre-pandemic levels.
Connecticut reports the results using the Connecticut Performance Index (CPI), which measures the average performance of students in a subject area. The index ranges from 0-100, with a state target of 75.
The statewide CPI for all students was 65 for ELA (up from 64.7 the previous year), 61.7 for math (up from 61.1), and 63.1 for science (up from 62.6).
Wilton students scored 79.9 in ELA, 81 in math and 81.6 in science, exceeding the state target in all three subjects.
Wilton’s ELA performance declined one point from 80.9 in 2024-25, while math decreased slightly from 81.3 to 81. Science increased from 81.1 to 81.6.
Special Education Gaps Widen
Performance among Wilton students with disabilities declined in all three subjects.
Students with disabilities recorded a CPI of 62.1 in ELA, 62.2 in math and 61.2 in science. Students without disabilities scored 83.8 in ELA, 85.1 in math and 86.3 in science.
That produced achievement gaps of 21.7 index points in ELA, 22.9 points in math and 25.1 points in science.
Each gap was larger than it had been the previous year. In 2024-25, the differences between students with and without disabilities were 20.6 points in ELA, 21.6 points in math and 23.3 points in science.
The widening resulted in part from lower performance among students with disabilities. Their scores declined by 1.8 points in ELA, 1.3 points in math and 0.4 points in science compared with 2024-25. Meanwhile, science performance among students without disabilities rose by 1.4 points.
The latest results follow concerns raised by BOE members during last year’s review of state assessments. At that meeting, administrators acknowledged the persistent disparities and said the district was examining different approaches to helping students receiving special education services keep pace with grade-level instruction.
Growth and Individual Assessments
One of the assessment tools used by Connecticut is the Smarter Balanced Assessment System, which is a standardized testing program administered to students in grades 3-8 that evaluates skills in ELA/Literacy and mathematics.
While students statewide achieved an average of 59.3% of their individual growth targets in ELA and 60.9% in mathematics, in Wilton, students achieved an average of 65.5% of their growth targets in ELA and 81.4% in mathematics.
On the Next Generation Science Standards assessment, administered to fifth-, eighth- and 11th-grade students, 81.8% of Wilton students met or exceeded the standard, compared with the statewide average of 51.4%.
Wilton students also performed well on the Connecticut School Day SAT, administered to 11th grade public school students statewide. They earned an average score of 603 on the evidence-based reading and writing portion of the test, with 89.7% of students meeting or exceeding the achievement standard; and an average score of 596 in math, with 75.5% meeting or exceeding the standard.
Statewide averages were 494 (55.3% meeting or exceeding standard) and 472 (31.3% meeting or exceeding), respectively.
Wilton Board of Education members are scheduled to receive a more detailed presentation on the district’s results at their next meeting, scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 3.
