CAPT Scores Highest in Five Years

The Westport school district’s Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) scores are the highest they have been in five years.

Staples High School sophomores did best last spring in reading with 89 percent of the class passing that portion of the test.

In writing, 86 percent of the class passed the test, and 79 percent of the class passed the math portion of the test.

In science, 76 percent of the class passed the test.

The scores are up from last year when 82 percent passed the reading test, 83 percent passed the writing test, 73 percent passed the math test and 69 percent passed the sciene test.

It is the fifth year that the second generation of the CAPT test has been administered to high school students, and the 2005 scores are the highest for Staples during that time.

The Board of Education will discuss the scores during its meeting at 8 p.m. on Monday night in Town Hall.

In a letter to the board, Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon wrote that the state goal to pass the exam is a “high standard.”

Landon further wrote that students who pass the test in a category receive a certificate and label, which is attached to their transcripts.

Students who do not pass can retake the test, he wrote, but it is not required.

The Class of 2007, which took the test last spring, will either have to pass the CAPT or demonstrate the skills required for the test through other means, he wrote.