<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2sEpAT_1GyN3LTw00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2sEpAT_1GyN3LTw00" width="1280" height="720" ><figcaption>Ansonia Public Schools Math Director John LaRovera delivers a presentation to school board members Oct. 26. Credit: Jasmine Wright</figcaption></figure>ANSONIA – Test scores in Ansonia schools have improved in recent years, although they remain well below the state average.That was the takeaway from a presentation given to board of education members at a meeting Oct. 26. Delivered by Bridget Calabrese and John LaRovera – the district’s directors of English/language arts and math, respectively – the presentation compared Ansonia’s standardized testing performance to the rest of the state.“Are we where we want to be? Are we at the state level? No, but we’ve made considerable gains from where we first started,” LaRovera said in the presentation.According to the presentation, 27 percent of Ansonia students met state standards in English/language arts last school year, while 21 percent met state standards in math. That’s compared to 51 and 47 percent of students across the state for English and math. The data compared students’ performance on standardized tests between third and eighth grade.Ansonia’s performance is below the state average in both subjects. However, local test scores have also improved from where they were five years ago, even as the state average has stayed mostly the same over that period.Over that time, Ansonia’s English/language arts test scores have been modestly improving. The percentage of students meeting math standards has also nearly doubled over the same time period.The charts below compare Ansonia’s performance to statewide averages in the 2020-2021 school year and 2025-2026 school year. The story continues after.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4bUFd0_1GyN3LTw00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4bUFd0_1GyN3LTw00" width="1182" height="718" ></figure><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3HAtLV_1GyN3LTw00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3HAtLV_1GyN3LTw00" width="1182" height="718" ></figure>Pandemic Was “Rock Bottom,” Official SaysLaRovera said in the presentation that Ansonia hit “rock bottom” after the COVID-19 pandemic, both because of the pandemic itself and because the district was not paying for a curriculum at the time.“We hit absolute rock bottom at this point. We did not have a viable curriculum,” LaRovera said.He said test scores have improved since the district adopted a new curriculum during the 2022-2023 school year. The year after that curriculum was adopted, Ansonia recorded improvements in the percentage of students meeting both English/language arts standards (a 7 percent increase) and math standards (a 4 percent increase).Calabrese said challenges facing the school district include teacher turnover and historical budget cuts.In particular, she pointed to staffing cuts in 2009 which eliminated reading and writing teachers – leaving English teachers to teach two subjects which had previously been separate. She said that decision has cost students instructional time and shows up in test scores.“We’re still living and breathing the results of that decision today, in the fact that those students are not receiving half of what they were receiving back then,” Calabrese said.LaRovera added that, because Ansonia is a small school district, its numbers can change year-to-year in ways that are hard to predict. For example, he said individual teacher retirements and new teacher hires can show up in the scores for that year.Administrators: Middle School Scores Need ImprovementBoth Calabrese and LaRovera identified the middle school as an area of concern. While scores at both Mead and Prendergast elementary schools have steadily increased over five years, growth has been smaller at the middle-school level – and, in some cases, students there are performing worse on standardized exams than they were five years ago.LaRovera said one solution the district is exploring involves getting students to work in small groups more often. He said that, as kids get older and more teaching is done in a “lecture” style, it becomes easier for kids to fall through the cracks and get left behind.“We want to bring that lecture back down to small groups, because kids want the best from each other. So we are implementing that,” he said.Science Scores FallingAnother area of concern – the district’s science scores. In the 2020-21 school year, 40 percent of eleventh grade Ansonia students met state standards in science. In the 2025-26 school year, only 23 percent met the standard. That’s a decrease of 17 percent.LaRovera said a large amount of staff turnover could have led to that decrease.“At the secondary level, high school and middle school, in the last 10 years, we’ve had 28 different science teachers,” he said.He said administrators are also struggling to hire and retain new teachers because of an ongoing teacher shortage across the country.“In the past, teachers would stay the year, but now with these shortage areas with science, special education, math, teachers are leaving mid-year,” LaRovera said.Steven Adamowski, a member of the school board, said the science scores were alarming.“Science, I think it’s in free fall. That’s a very big concern,” Adamowski said.He said the board should set two to three goals along with Superintendent of Schools Joseph DiBacco in order to prioritize science and math testing performance in the coming year.DiBacco, who was in attendance, said after the meeting that the district is making the best use of the resources it has.“We’re doing the best we can with the funding that we have,” DiBacco said.He said the district is making progress, but class sizes are another area of concern.“I would love to have smaller class sizes throughout the whole district, but we don’t even have any more classrooms,” he said.LaRovera said after the meeting that administrators are aiming for a 2.5 to 3 percent improvement in test scores each year.</div></body>

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ANSONIA – Test scores in Ansonia schools have improved in recent years, although they remain well below the state average. That was the takeaway from a presentation given to board of education members at a meeting Oct. 26. Delivered by Bridget Calabrese and John LaRovera – the district’s directors...

Ansonia Test Scores Improving But Still Below State Average

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ANSONIA – Test scores in Ansonia schools have improved in recent years, although they remain well below the state average. That was the takeaway from a pre

Ansonia Test Scores Improving But Still Below State Average

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