You asked (1) how the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) scores answers for students who fail to answer many test questions or who fail to complete the test in the time allotted, (2) what effect it has on school or school district's average scores if large numbers of students fail to finish the test, and (3) if large numbers of students are unable to finish the test, whether the State Department of Education considers adjusting the time allowed.

By law, the State Department of Education (SDE) oversees CMT creation, content, administration, and scoring. Therefore, we put the above questions to the department. According to an e-mail from Katherine Nicoletti, SDE's legislative liaison, CMT questions left blank are considered incorrect and scored as such. "Each item has varying points assigned to it and if the answer is wrong or blank it receives no points," she writes.

This scoring procedure means that schools and districts with large numbers of students who fail to finish would have lower overall scores than districts where most students finish the test, unless students who finish answer most questions wrong.

With regard to how SDE would respond when large numbers of students fail to finish the test, Nicoletti writes:

The tests are formulated based on a blueprint of content and types of items to be assessed. Tests are then developed based on the blueprint and are piloted by students. We do a variety of analyses to determine if the items assess what they are intended to and if an adequate amount of time was provided for students to respond to all the items. We also then review the results of the live tests to determine if most of the students responded to all the items. If not, then we add more time to the test.

She also notes that additional time is one of the accommodations available on an individual basis for special education students and students with limited English.

JL: eh