Last year, when students took the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC), the statewide assessment in Connecticut, we gained a lot of interesting information about the academic achievement of Connecticut students. The results are particularly interesting when you can compare what’s happening between districts and within districts. The interactive map on our website allows you to explore some of these patterns.

For example, you can immediately see significant gaps between districts when you hover your mouse over the map. The map above shows that 78% of students in Weston met or exceeded grade level expectations in English. You can take a look at your district and its neighbors to draw comparisons.

We can also look at gaps within districts. Hovering over Greenwich, for example, we can see a significant difference in the performance of Black students as compared to their White peers. It’s interesting to compare this data between districts, rather than solely focusing on whole-district data. Hovering over Greenwich’s neighbors, we can see that some districts have wider gaps, while others have narrower ones.

While you’re exploring the 2015 results, it’s important to remember that this is only one year of data on a single test. As the test is administered over the coming years, the data will be increasingly valuable because they will show (a) longer-term trends and (b) which districts are improving over time.

Students recently finished taking the 2016 SBAC, marking only the second time that the test has been fully administered statewide. We expect to see the results in the late summer or early fall. In the meantime, click here to learn more about your district’s performance and compare it to neighboring districts.