Local schools score high on MCASDate: 10/1/2015 GREATER SPRINGFIELD – Scores from the spring 2015 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test were recently released throughout the Commonwealth and local districts ranked high in many categories compared to state averages.
Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) Superintendent of Schools M. Martin O’Shea said district members were pleased by student improvements in mathematics.
“Some of those gains were reflective of the coordination, the strong efforts of our teachers, and the investments that we made,” he added. “It’s really too early right now to get down to the school level or the discipline level.”
Eighty-seven percent of grade 10 students achieved proficient or higher scores on the math MCAS. The state average was 79 percent. For this same grade level, 64 percent of students reached an advanced score. The state average was 49 percent
In addition, 34 percent of grade 10 students ranked proficient and nine percent received needs improvement scores out of a state average of 13 percent. One percent of the district students ranked in the warning and failing category compared to the state average of three percent.
District analyses of MCAS results contributes to the school improvement planning process, O’Shea noted.
HWRSD Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Stephen Hale said the School Committee and the district made a commitment to hire a math coach for grades 4 and 5.
“At a 10,000-foot view, it looks as though that could have been one of the factors that helped lead to some improvement in math scores as well as the hard work from teachers working with that math coach,” he added.
Fifty-seven percent of grade 4 students taking the math MCAS ranked as proficient or higher compared to a state average of 47 percent. Twenty percent of students achieved an advanced ranking with the state average being 19 percent. Thirty-eight percent of fourth graders ranked in the proficient category and the state average was 32 percent. The needs improvement and warning and failing categories were below the state averages for that grade level.
Grade 5 students were on par with the state average for the math MCAS in the proficient or higher category and were below the state average for advanced – 27 percent of students achieved advanced compared to the state average of 35 percent. Twenty-six percent of students scored in the needs improvement category compared to the state average of 21 percent. Warning and failing scores for fifth graders were also below the state average.
Longmeadow Superintendent of Schools Marie Doyle said the grade 10 cohort data, which follows students from grade 3 to 10, shows Longmeadow consistently scoring above state averages for MCAS testing.
“We continue to see extremely strong performances from our high school students and that’s a culmination of all of the years of education in Longmeadow,” she noted.
Seventy-two percent of students in all grades taking the science and technology MCAS ranked in the proficient or higher category compared to the state average of 54 percent. Longmeadow achieved 25 percent for advanced, while the state average was 15 percent. Forty-seven percent of district students achieved proficient scores compared to the state average of 30 percent.
Additionally, needs improvement and warning and failing results district-wide were lower for the state average regarding science and technology MCAS scores.
“We’re always far surpassing the state,” she added. “If you take a look at our science scores – science and technology in both the middle school have been real strengths this year in terms of performance.”
Doyle said despite the high MCAS test scores for her district; there is room for improvement.
“If you take a look at our elementary science and technology that’s an area – we’ve been focusing on literacy and math – so we’re not surprised that we’ve seen a little dip there,” she added. “We have a science review team in place this year to take a look at where we can improve our performance in that area.”
Longmeadow and HWRSD chose not to take the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Carrers (PARCC) test. East Longmeadow was the only district out of the three to take the exam.
East Longmeadow Superintendent of Schools Gordon Smith said PARCC scores have yet to be released for his district and he anticipates that they would be made public sometime this fall. Grades 3-8 participated in the PARCC exam in ELA and math in the spring of 2015.
Doyle sad her district chose not to take PARCC because some questions on the exam are not appropriate for the grade levels to which they are given.
“They’ve also had some technical problems that have yet to be resolved,” she added. “I think it was a good decision on the part of Longmeadow not to participate in the PARCC just yet.”
East Longmeadow MCAS results primarily consisted of students tested in Grade 10 in addition to Grades 5 and 8, which took the science and technology MCAS test.
Across the district, East Longmeadow scored high in the science and technology MCAS. Sixty percent of students received a proficient or higher score compared with a state average of 54 percent. Advanced rankings were slightly higher than the state average. Forty-six percent of students scored in the proficient category and the state average was 44 percent. The needs improvement category was on par with the state percentage and warning and failing scores were below the state average.
Smith said the district has focused on helping students achieve better scores on open response questions, which he believes has contributed to increased rankings in all subjects.
He added that math continues to be another area of focus in the district.
“That will be work that we’ll get into now that we have the results – very specifically – we’ll look at where our students are still have challenges,” Smith said.
Seventeen percent of grade 10 students ranked in the needs improvement category in math, while the percentage of proficient or higher achievers was on par with the state average and 47 percent of students scored advanced compared to a state average of 53 percent.
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