We all like to keep score. Whatever pursuit we choose in life professionally or personally, it is human nature to want to see tangible results and measure oneself against others. An educational journey, however, is not as easy to measure. After all, the ultimate goal is to produce good human beings who can lead fruitful lives, adapt to changing circumstances and achieve their dreams. This path comes in many varieties.

Each year we are provided data about all of our schools that is calculated through standardized test scores. Schools are measured by the percentage of students who achieve certain metrics across disciplines. Much time and angst is spend by all involved, from boards of education and central office leaders to administrators, teachers and support staff.

While I am sure bright minds design good tests to measure performance, I have never seen any employer or military recruiter request the Smarter Balance or Next Gen scores of potential hires. While there is certainly value in measuring results, we focus a disproportionate amount of time on tests that do not tell the whole story.

Naugatuck is an economically challenged community comprised of students and families from diverse backgrounds. Many are English language learners. The inherent cultural bias of many standardized tests presents further skews the data. There is often conflicting and unexplainable reasons why some sets of scores rise or fall from a given year.



Naugatuck Public Schools has done an outstanding job recognizing that there is much more to educating students than these test scores that consume so much attention. The district’s Vision of the Graduate articulately outlines all the important qualities and attributes that we would want our students to be when they leave our district. We should focus more of our time and energies on this process and the positive outcomes rather than the annual cycle of how our district competes with wealthier communities who score better on standardized tests.