On Friday, the state Department of Education released the preliminary results of the latest round of state annual assessments, and the biggest takeaway is not much has changed.

Overall, there was a slight increase in Math performance and a slight decrease in English Language Arts (ELA) performance from last year, though the trend is positive. Over the last three years, there was a 1.8 point increase in ELA scores statewide and 5.5 increase in Math scores.

The state is also reporting that over 30 percent of districts saw improvements in Math, with Alliance districts seeing a larger jump. While this is good news, these measurements don’t really tell a full story.

Information released by the state is limited to statewide aggregated data. There really isn’t much you conclude. Scores for individual schools, as well as growth data, is expected to be released in August. Until then, this information is interesting but should be viewed with caution.

Achievement gap stagnant

The results released, show a slight narrowing of the gap between the state’s most vulnerable students and their peers, however as a trend things are stagnant:

The gap between rich and poor students has narrowed by over a percentage point in both Math and ELA, the gap between the most of the rest of the sub-groups and their peers remain relatively the same.

If you are interested in district level data, the Connecticut Mirror’s has great coverage with interactive charts

State charter schools outperform home districts

According to the Northeast Charter Schools, a charter school advocacy organization, the preliminary results show that 83 percent of charter schools out performed their district counter parts in ELA and 78 percent outperformed their peers in Math.

This pretty much falls in line with results from last year which showed that 82 percent of charters outperformed their host districts, though this information only looks at district level data and not individual schools.