While statewide performance on the Connecticut State Department of Education scorecard dropped from 74.9% to 74.2% of possible points in the 2018-19 year, multiple districts in southeastern Connecticut have seen gains.

Among schools in the region, Niantic Center School had the highest overall index for elementary or middle schools, at 95.1, while Marine Science Magnet High School had the highest for any high school, at 94.3.

The state on Thursday released the 2018-19 results for its Next Generation Accountability System, giving an index to each public school in the state. The results for every school, and districts overall, can be viewed at edsight.ct.gov.

The index is based not only on math and English Language Arts test scores, but also on year-over-year math and ELA growth in individual students, chronic absenteeism rates, college-preparatory courses and exams, graduation rates, college entrance rates, physical fitness and arts access. Last year was the fourth year of this system.

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Ajit Gopalakrishnan, chief performance officer for CSDE, highlighted the uptick Connecticut is seeing in achievement of "high needs students," defined as those who are English language learners, have disabilities and/or are from low-income families.

Oakdale Elementary School in Montville ranked second in the state for ELA growth among high-needs students, and Deans Mill School in Stonington ranked fifth for math growth among high-needs students.

Deans Mill was also one of just three schools in the state to meet 100 percent of the state's target for how much individual students grow in math from year to year, while Niantic Center School in East Lyme ranked third for ELA growth.

Deans Mill School Principal Jennifer McCurdy attributed the 100 percent growth mark to teachers working hard to implement the Eureka Math curriculum, trying different instructional models over the years and drilling down into data.

Over the previous year, the state saw an increase in the percentage of students taking college and career readiness courses — such as Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate — from 74.8 to 80%, but a decrease in the percentage of students passing exams.

One change in the Next Generation Accountability System this year was the inclusion of the progress that English language learners are making. Another change is the inclusion of science performance, which was left out as a metric last year because the state was switching science assessments.

State identifies new Schools of Distinction, Focus schools

The state recognized 162 Schools of Distinction across the state for high overall performance, high academic growth and/or improvement in overall performance, and it added 10 new Focus schools for state support because of low achievement or low growth for students with high needs.

In Groton, being named a School of Distinction is not new for Mary Morrisson Elementary but it is for Claude Chester Elementary. Groton Superintendent Michael Graner said what's notable is that both schools serve a lot of high-needs students.

Groton's overall index improved from 73 to 77. While the latter is above the state average of 74.2, the district is about halfway through its five-year designation as an Alliance District, one of the 33 lowest-performing districts in the state.

One of the main reasons Groton was identified as such in 2017 was high rates of chronic absenteeism — students missing more than 10% of school days.

Chronic absenteeism rates improved in six of the nine schools in 2018-19. But Fitch High School's rate rose from 9.6% to 20.6%, increasing the district's overall rate from 11.6% to 12.2%. The state's rate, meanwhile, decreased from 10.7% to 10.4%.

Graner said he will need to analyze the data for Fitch and look at how the school is reporting, because he does not believe absenteeism is that high.

In North Stonington, the elementary school was named a School of Distinction for high growth among students in math. Meanwhile, Wheeler High School was named a Focus school for poor growth in math among high-needs students; only 35.9% of that growth target was met.

But overall, Wheeler's index improved from 74 to 76.37, due to improvements in performance and growth for math and ELA, and in arts access and the four-year graduation rate.

Superintendent Peter Nero said that, unlike in other local districts, North Stonington's middle school scores are rolled into its high school scores, since Wheeler is seventh through twelfth grades. He said there's a small subgroup of high-needs students and the district will take advantage of any interventions the state offers.

North Stonington saw a decrease in entrance to postsecondary institutions from 80.8% to 68.9%, which Nero said was due to a lot of students heading to work or into the military last year.

Norwich Public Schools saw an 8.4% increase in its overall index, to 59.3. The highest-scoring school in the district is Thomas W. Mahan, which was named a School of Distinction and had the best ELA performance in southeastern Connecticut for high-needs students.

Norwich Free Academy, on the other hand, saw its index drop from 74.1 to 70.

Spokesperson Mike O'Farrell said in an email statement, "This report provides valuable information, and while our overall number is down slightly from last year, our School Data Team will take a careful look at all aspects of the report and use it to refine our school improvement plan initiatives."

Norwich is also an Alliance District, and the other one in the region is New London, which saw a 0.64% increase in its index, to 63.2. Winthrop STEM was named a School of Distinction, and New London Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School ranked eighth in the state for arts access.

But among local high schools, New London performed the worst for percentage of students taking college and career readiness courses, four-year graduation rate, and postsecondary entrance.

The local schools that saw the largest increase in their indexes from 2017-18 to 2018-19 were West Side Middle School in Groton, 18.9%; ISAAC in New London, 18.6%; Clark Lane Middle School in Waterford, 18.2%; Dr. Charles E. Murphy School in Montville, 17.7%, and Wequonnoc Magnet Elementary in Norwich, 16.6%.

e.moser@theday.com