A Website for stamford parents
Elementary schools go from Kindergarten through grade five (K-5). Currently 4 ES are chartered as magnet schools, all others are district schools. Which school is best for your kid?
You can compare the 2009 CMT test scores for Stamford's elementary schools Grade 3, 4 and 5 - Sorted by "Percent by Level - Advanced - whites only. In order to compare a school effectively and filter out data that distorts the results we only compare the white subgroup, either advanced or by raw math scores, to other schools and districts.
Newfield's average score for instance is buoyed by the fact that it drew, until the 2009 redistricting takes effect, its students from a mostly majority district (that means white population), and ranks sixth by average score. But if you look at the performance of the majority subgroup, Newfield ranks 9th, and only one school (Stark) fared worse. Many parents who move into the Newfield district in search of a "better" school are dismayed to find out, that the curriculum is weak, there are no advanced math classes, and students generally have to do much less homework than in the school they attended before (as we have been told from Stark and Roger parents who moved into the Newfield school district). You can see the opposite happening at Davenport. Davenport ranks higher if you compare the majority subgroup vs. overall scores.
Also note, that in the past Newfield started grouping out for math in 3rd grade. That means that students were grouped by ability for their math lessons. In the lower grades (K-2nd) everybody did the same stuff, at the same time, at the same pace. Newfield's principal Miriam Arango wrote a letter to Newfield families that starting March 2nd, 2009 ability grouping for math will be discontinued and heterogeneous classroom instructions will take its place. The reason being, that grouping is a deterrent to the new math program "Everyday Math" that Stamford recently initiated district wide!
Please see also our page about Stamford's Middle School Reform and the recommendation to discontinue "tracking" and replace it with "grouping out" for middle school.
The find out about the two top rated Stamford Elementary Magnet Schools, Westover and Rogers, click here.
One of the confusing parts of NCLB is "School Choice" should your child attend a school that is failing to make "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) for two consecutive years under the NCLB law and receives Title I funds. A school that doesn't receive Title I funds is not subject to NCLB. Any Title I school designated "in need of improvement" must offer all children attending that school the opportunity to attend a school in the district that has met its AYP goals. For the year 2009/10 Stamford has to offer school choice for the following ES: Davenport, Hart, KT Murphy, Rogers, Springdale, Stark, Stillmeadow, and Toquam. The only choice Stamford can offer is for Westover. As far as the BOE is concerned they complied with the law and placed 9 children through school choice based on a priority ranking of qualification for free lunch and then a ranking by CMT and DRA scores. The US Department of Education states that priority in school choice must be given to the lowest achieving, low income students. So if you get a letter in the mail that your child has a choice to attend another Stamford ES do not hold your breath. The BOE believes that none of our schools are failing and giving everybody equal access to our best performing magnet ES will compromise Westover's program. As per BOE meeting minutes on September 22, 2009.
Individual school administrations have a lot of freedom how they run their schools, the standards they hold their teachers and students accountable to, if and how they group out. There is no accountability for a school administration if his or her school performs badly or fails. Even should you choose a well run, well performing school with a good principal be warned, superintendent Starr has been rotating a good number of principal and assistant principals within the last couple of years.
Also see magnet schools for more info on Stamford elementary magnet schools and the process to get in.