CAPT OVERVIEW

CAPT OVERVIEW

It has been the policy of the Connecticut State Department of Education to review the major components of the statewide student assessment system approximately every five to seven years. These review periods are used to examine the direction of the assessment programs and to allow for changes that may have occurred in state curriculum frameworks, legislation, and shifts in priorities on the national, state and local levels.

The second generation of the CAPT will be administered beginning in the spring of 2001. During the past two years, staff members have been engaged in discussions with advisory committees of Connecticut educators, as well as the testing contractor, Harcourt Educational Measurement, to make the numerous decisions that will guide the development of the test. New test items for the CAPT were field tested in the spring 1999 and 2000.

The same standard for achieving the goal in science will be maintained from the first to the second generation of the CAPT. The following summarizes the major changes in the second generation CAPT.

CAPT AREA	CONTENT INCLUDED	SUMMARY OF CHANGES
Science	All science sections	Restrict content to most essential skills and knowledge
Reading Across the Disciplines	Response to literature	Reduce # of questions (4 instead of 6) Control length of story
Reading Across the Disciplines	Reading for information	Add reading for information
Writing Across the Disciplines	Editing and revising	Revision of eding test
Writing Across the Disciplines	Interdisciplinary writing	2 shorter tests replacing longer test
Mathematics	All mathematics sections	All content reviewed