NPS Sees Remarkable Progress in State Assessment Results; Presents at State Education Department

Norwalk Public Schools was proud to be one of four Connecticut districts invited by the Connecticut State Department of Education to present its exceptional 2025 state assessment results and the impactful strategies behind its continued progress. The invitation reflects the statewide recognition of Norwalk’s continued progress and commitment to student success at every level.

On Aug. 28, Superintendent Dr. Alexandra Estrella and her team presented to CSDE Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker, showcasing the district’s progress and the strategic initiatives driving sustained improvement. Highlights included the Portrait of a Graduate framework, the district’s new Literacy Vision, data-driven cycles of improvement, leadership development, and the critical support of the Norwalk Board of Education.

The presentation underscored Norwalk’s commitment to providing an excellent and equitable education and successfully creating meaningful outcomes for all students.

“Rather than asking scholars to fit into our programs, we design programs that fit them, built on comprehensive data analysis and, most importantly, a deep understanding of who our students are and what they need to thrive,” Dr. Estrella said. “The district’s positive results reflect the hard work, dedication, and collaboration of our students, teachers, school communities, and the support of the entire district.”

The Connecticut State Department of Education released the results from the spring 2025 state assessments and chronic absenteeism data on Aug. 28. Academic performance in Connecticut improved across all student groups in English language arts, mathematics and science in 2025, while chronic absenteeism continued to decline.

For the first time ever, Norwalk Public Schools’ growth in English language arts and math exceeded the state among all students. The growth of Norwalk’s high needs students has exceeded their peers statewide in English language arts and math for three consecutive years.

Norwalk Public Schools continue to rank highest among other large Connecticut cities in the Performance Index for English language arts, math and science. It also exceeded its big city peers in proficiency for all three subjects. The Performance Index is the best measure of overall average achievement across standard and alternate assessments in a content area, while proficiency looks at students who met or exceeded the state standards.

Norwalk Public Schools also ranked first among other large Connecticut cities for academic growth in English language arts and math (science is not measured). Academic growth is a leading indicator of student achievement as it measures the pace of student learning in a school year.

Norwalk Public Schools saw another drop in chronic absenteeism in 2024–25. The overall rate for the district was 17.9%, a decrease of nearly 2 percent from the previous year. The improvement was greater among high needs students, who experienced a 22.2% rate of chronic absenteeism during the 2024-25 school year, a decrease of 2.1% compared to the previous year.

We know showing up matters. Students need to be in school to learn in order to succeed in the classroom and stay on track to graduate from high school.

The graduation rate for Norwalk Public Schools also far exceeded the state’s graduation rate by 3.7%, a 92.6% rate in Norwalk compared to the state’s 88.9%. Norwalk saw a huge jump in the graduation rate among its multilingual learners from 70.9% for the 2023 cohort to 79.3% for the 2024 cohort.

“As I began my tenure in Norwalk Public Schools, I made it my mission to see every student that comes through the district walk across the stage to accept their high school diploma, and each year, we are getting one step closer to making that dream of many come true.”

A full presentation of Norwalk Public Schools’ state assessment results and a look at the district’s chronic absenteeism numbers will be provided at an upcoming Norwalk Board of Education meeting.