Results from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills received by the Office of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Hartford show that on average, all students in grades 3 through 7 are scoring well above the national average in reading, math, language arts, social studies, and science.

Each spring, students in third through seventh grades in the Catholic elementary and middle schools of the Archdiocese of Hartford, including St. Rita's and St. Stephen's,  take the ITBS, which are norm-referenced, standardized tests.

Scores are reported in both grade equivalents and national percentiles. This year, consistent with the last decade of scores, Archdiocese of Hartford students’ average performance on all subtests - math, reading, language arts, science, and social studies - measured in the upper third of students tested nationally, with many students performing on average in the top 85^th – 99^th percentile nationally.

Most notable were the science results. Fifth graders in the Archdiocese of Hartford scored on average at a seventh grade level, which equates to fifth graders obtaining scores of the typical student in the nation who just finished seventh grade. On average, seventh graders in the Archdiocese scored at almost a tenth grade level, equating their scores with students who are entering tenth grade. 

Language Arts is noted as another area of particular strength, with the average seventh grader in the Archdiocese scoring a grade equivalent to a tenth grader in his seventh month of school.

The advanced scores of Archdiocesan students on standardized testing continues when students move on to high school. Students in the nine Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Hartford, including Sacred Heart Academy, scored higher than the national student average, including Connecticut public school students, in all areas of the SAT, especially in the writing and reading sections.

In the area of writing, Catholic school students scored an average of 531, while Connecticut public school students scored an average of 510 followed by a national average score of 488.

“These results confirm what I already know through my school visits, which is that Catholic schools are made up of classroom environments that promote life-long learning and advance the development of the whole child – mind, body and soul," said Superintendent of Catholic Schools Dale R. Hoyt of the Archdiocese of Hartford.

"These outstanding test scores are just one variable of the robust teaching and learning in Catholic schools that graduate our students prepared to become productive, virtuous citizens and church leaders who will fashion a more humane and just world," he said. "Partnered with parents, our students search for knowledge, meaning and truth. It is this winning combination that promotes only excellence for the students we serve.”