Research Library

Overview

The CSDE is committed to continuously learning from data and experience to implement evidence-based educational policies and practices that result in improved student outcomes. The CSDE’s learning agenda is guided by the State Board of Education’s four promises to Connecticut’s students:

  1. Ensuring their non-academic needs are met so they are healthy, happy, and ready to learn. (Mental health, nutrition, after-school programs)
  2. Supporting their school and district in staying on target with learning goals.(Education Cost Sharing - ECS, Alliance Districts, Commissioner’s Network, School Choice)
  3. Giving them access to great teachers and school leaders.
  4. Making sure they learn what they need to know to succeed in college, career, and life.

In addition to the publications below, please also visit the Learn Together Grow Together CT site for promising practices that are happening in Connecticut districts.

Alternative Education and Adult Education 
Alliance Districts/Commissioner’s Network 
Career/Technical Education 
CMT/CAPT 
College and Career Readiness 
Connecticut Alternate Assessment 
Connecticut Assessment Summary 
Data Systems 
Early Childhood / Kindergarten Readiness 
Early Indication Tool 
Educators
English Language Proficiency Assessment
English Learners
Enrollment and Attendance
Extended Learning 
Graduation
Growth 
NGSS 
Postsecondary/Employment 
SAT/PSAT/AP 
School Choice 
Smarter Balanced 
Special Education 
Student Supports 
Studies in Progress

 

 

Alternative Education and Adult Education

  • Untapped Potential: Engaging All Connecticut Youth (2016) This report establishes definitions of disengaged and disconnected youth and analyzes longitudinal CSDE data based on those definitions. In addition to identifying some of the early indications of student disengagement, the report offers promising points of intervention and recommended practices. Partner: Parthenon
  • Extending Accountability: From Compliance to Learning (2009) This paper examines the impact of federal accountability requirements in adult education. It presents some positive developments with respect to curriculum, instruction, and the use of data, while highlighting some of the shortcomings within the federal methods. 
  • Learner Retention in Adult Secondary Education (2008) This paper compares the retention of learners in the GED preparation program to those enrolled in two other adult secondary completion options – the Adult High School Credit Diploma Program and the National External Diploma Program.

Alliance Districts/Commissioner’s Network

Career/Technical Education

  • The Effects of Career and Technical Education: Evidence from the Connecticut Technical High School System (2019)This study examines the effect of admission to 16 stand-alone technical high schools within the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System (CTECS) on student educational and labor market outcomes. To identify the causal effect of admission on student outcomes, the researchers exploit the fact that CTECS utilizes a score-based admissions system and identify the effect of admission using a regression discontinuity approach. Partners: University of Connecticut, P20WIN

CMT/CAPT

College and Career Readiness

  • Assessing Measures of College-and-Career Readiness in High School This paper examines two key metrics used to evaluate College and Career Readiness among high school students in Connecticut – Indicators 5 and 6 of the Next Generation Accountability System – and these metrics’ relationship to college enrollment and performance.

Connecticut Alternate Assessment

  • Connecticut’s Alternate Assessment Peer Review Study   This report examines postsecondary outcomes for 11th grade students with significant cognitive disabilities who took the Connecticut Alternate Assessment for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics during the academic years 2014-15 through 2017-18.  The primary goal of this study is to illustrate how the alternate achievement standards ensure that students are on track to pursue postsecondary education or employment.
  • Connecticut Alternate Assessment Technical Report (2016)  This report provides a technical summary of the Connecticut Alternate Assessment in ELA and mathematics that is administered to eligible students in Connecticut.

Connecticut Assessment Summary

  • Connecticut Assessment Summary (Spring 2021) - This report contains specialized analyses of the 2020-21 assessment data in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It offers matched cohort growth data analyses as well as disaggregation of results by student learning model (i.e., in-person, hybrid, remote) and student group (e.g., students with high needs). Additional information including longitudinal growth trajectories, growth model estimations, and remote test administrations is also provided.

Data Systems

  • Statewide Student Information System: A Feasibility Report (2019) In response to Public Act 17-220, the CSDE conducted a survey of local and regional boards of education regarding their use of student information systems. The CSDE also conducted focus groups with district data and technology staff, and superintendents. Lastly, CSDE staff had a conversation with the Director of Technology for the North Carolina Department of Education who weighed in on their state's implementation of a statewide SIS. All the information was synthesized and submitted in this report to the Connecticut General Assembly.

Early Childhood / Kindergarten Readiness

Early Indication Tool

Educators

English Language Proficiency Assessment

Extended Learning

  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Evaluation Report, 2017-18 (2019) This report presents findings on Connecticut’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC). The 21st CCLC program provides funding to school districts and community organizations that serve students attending schools with a high concentration of low-income students. 21st CCLC grants are designed to provide these students with opportunities for academic enrichment, activities that complement learning, and to encourage family engagement. Partner: University of Connecticut
  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Evaluation Report, 2016-17 (2018) This report presents findings on Connecticut’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC). The 21st CCLC program provides funding to school districts and community organizations that serve students attending schools with a high concentration of low-income students. 21st CCLC grants are designed to provide these students with opportunities for academic enrichment, activities that complement learning, and to encourage family engagement. Partner: University of Connecticut
  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Evaluation Report, 2015-16 (2017) This report presents findings on Connecticut’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC). The 21st CCLC program provides funding to school districts and community organizations that serve students attending schools with a high concentration of low-income students. 21st CCLC grants are designed to provide these students with opportunities for academic enrichment, activities that complement learning, and to encourage family engagement. Partner: University of Connecticut
  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Evaluation Report, 2014-15 (2016) This report presents findings on Connecticut’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC). The 21st CCLC program provides funding to school districts and community organizations that serve students attending schools with a high concentration of low-income students. 21st CCLC grants are designed to provide these students with opportunities for academic enrichment, activities that complement learning, and to encourage family engagement. Partner: University of Connecticut
  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Evaluation Report, 2013-14 (2014) This report presents findings on Connecticut’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC). The 21st CCLC program provides funding to school districts and community organizations that serve students attending schools with a high concentration of low-income students. 21st CCLC grants are designed to provide these students with opportunities for academic enrichment, activities that complement learning, and to encourage family engagement. Partner: University of Connecticut
  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Evaluation Report, 2012-13 (2013) This report presents findings on Connecticut’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC). The 21st CCLC program provides funding to school districts and community organizations that serve students attending schools with a high concentration of low-income students. 21st CCLC grants are designed to provide these students with opportunities for academic enrichment, activities that complement learning, and to encourage family engagement. Partner: University of Connecticut
  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Evaluation Report, 2010-11 (2011) This report presents findings on Connecticut’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC). The 21st CCLC program provides funding to school districts and community organizations that serve students attending schools with a high concentration of low-income students. 21st CCLC grants are designed to provide these students with opportunities for academic enrichment, activities that complement learning, and to encourage family engagement. Partner: University of Connecticut
  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Evaluation Report, 2009-10 (2010) This report presents findings on Connecticut’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC). The 21st CCLC program provides funding to school districts and community organizations that serve students attending schools with a high concentration of low-income students. 21st CCLC grants are designed to provide these students with opportunities for academic enrichment, activities that complement learning, and to encourage family engagement. Partner: University of Connecticut

Graduation

  • Improving High School Graduation Rates: Insights from Four Connecticut Districts (2020) This report summarizes conversations with leaders in four of Connecticut’s Alliance Districts. The four districts showed strong and sustained year-over-year increases in their four-year adjusted cohort graduation rates. The leaders identified key strategies for engaging and supporting all students with the goal of on-time graduation and readiness for post-secondary success.
  • Improving Extended Graduation Rates: Insights from Four Connecticut Districts (2020)  This report highlights best practices in ensuring that students who need more time to graduate are provided the opportunity. The information presented is based on conversations with leaders in four districts demonstrating improvements in extended graduation rates for students with disabilities and English learners. 

Growth

NGSS

  • 2020-21 Connecticut Next Generation Science Standards Assessment Technical Report - Volume 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
  • Connecticut Alternate Science (CTAS) Assessment Standard Setting Report (2019)  The CTAS is an alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards for students with significant cognitive disabilities. The CTAS has been developed to ensure that all students with significant cognitive disabilities can participate in an assessment that is a measure of what they know and can do in relation to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This report describes the standard setting activity that was conducted with Connecticut educators to establish performance standards (cut scores) for the CTAS assessment.
     
  • Validating American Institutes for Research’s Calibration and Scoring Processes for Science Assessments (2019)Introduction of new three-dimensional science standards have ushered in innovative methods for assessing students’ knowledge of science. New psychometric models were needed to account for the fact that item-level scores are clustered due to a common stimulus. Connecticut's vendor for science assessments, the American Institutes for Research, has had to rely on software that was developed in-house to calibrate and score these assessments. State level data quality control checks could not be accomplished through commercially available psychometric software. This paper summarizes a series of studies conducted by the Connecticut State Department of Education to validate AIR’s calibration and scoring processes. Partner: University of Connecticut

Postsecondary/Employment

SAT/PSAT/AP

  • SAT Multi-State Standard Setting - Final Report (2016)  In June 2016, College Board Research and Development facilitated a Multi-State Standard Setting for the Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Sections of the SAT. The purpose was to obtain three recommended cut scores for each of these exam sections that can be used for accountability purposes. This report summarizes the procedures used to obtain recommended cut scores from the standard setting panels, as well as the final cut scores that were agreed upon by the four states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, and New Hampshire. First, an overview of the standard setting meeting is presented, followed by a detailed description of the procedures and results.
     
  • Connecticut SAT School Day Annual Technical Report (2019) This report summarizes the performance of students who took the state administration of the SAT school day test. It provides an analysis of the quality of the test forms administered in the state of Connecticut Psychometric and statistical summaries related to the moments, intercorrelations, reliability and standard error of measurement, item completion rates, form speededness, and classification accuracy and consistency are also included.
  • The Relationship between the Smarter Balanced Grade 8 Assessments and the PSAT 8/9 Assessment (2017) This study analyzes the relationship between students’ Smarter Balanced results in Grade 8 and their subsequent performance on the PSAT 8/9 in the fall.
  • Connecticut SAT School Day Annual Technical Report (2017)This report summarizes the performance of students who took the state administration of the SAT school day test. It provides an analysis of the quality of the test forms administered in the state of Connecticut Psychometric and statistical summaries related to the moments, intercorrelations, reliability and standard error of measurement, item completion rates, form speededness, and classification accuracy and consistency are also included.

School Choice

Smarter Balanced

Special Education

Student Supports

  • Report on Student Discipline in Connecticut Public Schools (2019) This report presents analyses of trends in student disciplinary behaviors in Connecticut public schools. Data are disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, and grade. Special analyses take a closer look at Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems or "vapes", and at the severity of sanctions by race/ethnicity for specific incident types
  • Youth Service Bureaus Evaluation Report, 2015-17 (2018) This report summarizes the impact of YSBs on referral and/or diversion of children and youth from the justice system.
  • Youth Service Bureaus Evaluation Report, 2013-15 (2016) This report summarizes the impact of YSBs on referral and/or diversion of children and youth from the justice system.
  • Report of the Analyses of the Datasets from the Connecticut Judicial Branch, Court Support Services Division and the Connecticut State Department of Education (2015) This paper presents descriptive analyses of a dataset that comprises 58,678 individuals who were involved with the Connecticut juvenile court system between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2012. Partner: Yale University
  • Youth Service Bureaus Evaluation Report, 2011-13 (2013) This report summarizes the impact of YSBs on referral and/or diversion of children and youth from the justice system.
  • Youth Service Bureaus Evaluation Report, 2010-11 (2011) This report summarizes the impact of YSBs on referral and/or diversion of children and youth from the justice system.
  • Youth Service Bureaus Evaluation Report, 2009-10 (2011) This report summarizes the impact of YSBs on referral and/or diversion of children and youth from the justice system.
  • Youth Service Bureaus Evaluation Report, 2008-09 (2010) This report summarizes the impact of YSBs on referral and/or diversion of children and youth from the justice system.
  • Youth Service Bureaus Evaluation Report, 2007-08 (2008) This report summarizes the impact of YSBs on referral and/or diversion of children and youth from the justice system.

    • Studies in Progress

    The following studies are in progress:

  • How do social emotional learning data gathered from student surveys as well as early reading assessments administered in Grades K through 2, improve the prediction of student proficiency on the Smarter Balanced ELA assessment in Grade 3? Partner: Meriden Public Schools
  • What is the relationship between student participation in the Smarter Balanced interim assessment blocks and their performance on the corresponding assessment target on the summative assessment?
  • How effective are evidence-based text messaging campaigns in reducing “summer melt” and improving enrollment persistence in Connecticut so that students are more successful in completing their postsecondary education? Partners: American Institutes for Research, Connecticut State Colleges and Universities
  • What is the relationship between the number of years a student attends a particular school and the amount of growth that is achieved on Connecticut’s Smarter Balanced growth model in Grades 4 through 8?
  • What are the long-term educational outcomes of children with and at-risk for developing reading and writing difficulties? What are the antecedents in the schooling process of children who later develop reading and/or writing disabilities? Partner: University of Houston
  • What should be Connecticut’s operational definition of college and career readiness (e.g., first year college GPA, # of credits earned in first two years, self-sufficiency wage)? What factors in high school (e.g., high school course work, test scores, attendance, mobility, discipline, grade repetition) best predict college and career readiness? Partners: P20WIN members including CSCU, UCONN, CT Conference of Independent College, DOL (see P20WIN data request)
  • How can student performance and persistence in middle school serve to predict potential for participating in rigorous coursework (e.g., advanced placement, international baccalaureate, dual enrollment) during high school
  • How does the long-term academic achievement of former English learners who participated in bilingual education programs (transitional and/or dual language programs) compare to that of other former ELs who received ESL instruction?
  • What is the relationship between a parent’s participation in adult education programming and their child’s outcome in school?
  • Student Participation in Distance Learning: Device/Connectivity Needs, Effective Strategies, Challenges, and State Supports Needed - On behalf of the Learn from Home Task Force (LHTF), the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) conducted a brief survey to gauge the approaches to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the extent of student participation in those offerings and the barriers (especially devices and connectivity) to greater participation. In addition, the survey sought district perspectives on effective strategies to increase student participation in distance learning, the most challenging areas for getting fuller student participation, and the specific supports the State of Connecticut can provide to increase student participation in distance learning. 
  • The Roles of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Mental Health in Predicting Truancy Recidivism - This study aims to (a) describe demographic and mental health (MH) differences between truant juvenile justice–involved youth (JJY) and nontruant JJY; (b) classify MH needs of truant JJY; and (c) investigate if the interactions between race, ethnicity, gender, and MH needs predict truancy recidivism. Participants were 10,603 truant JJY (55.4% male; non-Hispanic White, 46.8%; 16.2% with a history of pretrial detention). Of these participants, 2,167 with MH data were included in latent profile analyses and recidivism analyses. Hispanic youth and female youth were more likely to be truant. Non-Hispanic White JJY had a higher likelihood of a repeated truancy charge. Four MH classes emerged: elevated Alcohol/Drug Use (7.9%), elevated Angry–Irritable and Depressed–Anxious symptoms (19.5%), elevated Suicide Ideation (7.1%), and low MH needs (65.5%). Race, ethnicity, gender, and MH needs are informative as potential factors contributing to truancy. These factors should be examined in future studies that compare truant with nontruant non-JJY.