Presentation outlines schools’ recent MCAS results

Date: 11/9/2011

Nov. 9, 2011

By Debbie Gardner

Assistant Editor

AGAWAM — It may only be October, but Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) testing was on the agenda at the recent School Committee meeting.

Allison LeClair, director of Curriculum and Instruction for Agawam Public Schools, gave committee members an overview of the district’s most recent performance on the state-mandated tests.

LeClair explained that MCAS scores for the district are presented as measures of adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act goals. According to the NCLB mandate, all children should be proficient in math and English language arts (ELA) by 2014.

“The state sets a target for us with its expectations — 95.1 percent proficiency in ELA and 92.2 percent proficiency in math,” LeClair explained. “That is were the state is telling us we should be if we are moving along this pathway.”

Scores for individual schools may include a composite performance index (CPI) — which reflects a combined number reflecting the scores of students who took the standard and alternative versions of the MCAS as well as AYP scores. LeClair explained that AYP scores for individual schools are determined by combining test performance and participation rates or performance and improvement rates.

According to the 2011 MCAS math results, Robinson Park Elementary School demonstrated adequate yearly progress for all students in relation to mandated goals.

However, the ranking showed less progress for the district’s other schools. Agawam High School did not meet AYP math goals for subgroups of students for the second year. The Junior High and Roberta G. Doering schools, both in their second year of restructuring math programs to better meet MCAS goals, did not meet AYP math goals for all students and for student subgroups. James Clark Elementary School, which is listed in its second year of a MCAS improvement program, also did not meet AYP goals for all and subgroups of its students. Clifford M, Granger Elementary School did not meet AYP goals for any of its student groups for the second year in a row, and the Benjamin J. Phelps Elementary School, which is in year two of a MCAS improvement plan, did not meet AYP goals for student subgroups.

On the ELA tests, Agawam High School, and Robinson Park and Granger elementary schools all demonstrated AYP when measured against the mandated goals. Doering and the Junior High School, both of which are in year two of a restructuring program for student subgroups, did not achieve AYP for those subgroups. Student subgroups at Phelps elementary school, which is in the second year of a MCAS improvement plan, also did not achieve AYP for the 2011 ELA test.

LeClair did highlight specific positive improvements in several schools, including those that did not make AYP goals. For example, the median student growth profile for the ELA test at Granger registered 76 percent, while the math growth profile was 58 percent, numbers that LeClair called “excellent.” Robinson Park showed a 3.8 percent improvement in the composite performance in math for its low-income students, and Doering showed a 6.2 percent increase in the composite performance in math for its special education students and 3.1 percent composite increase in ELA for its low-income students.

At the high school level, ELA MCAS results for 10th grades showed 32 percent scoring as advanced and 60 percent scoring at the proficient level. For the math portion, 52 percent scored at the advanced level and 35 percent as proficient.

An aggregate graph of student MCAS performance in both ELA and math in grades three through 10 showed strong scores in the first year of testing, a dip for grades four through eight, and improvement in grade 10. School Committee member Linda Galarneau commented that she was “really puzzled” by this result. LeClair said administrators feel the third grade test, which introduces students to the MCAS format, is fairly easy. In the following grades the test “varies from year to year,” she said, adding that students often become very serious about their MCAS scores in 10th grade, when they count as a graduation requirement.

LeClair said the MCAS results require several actions from the district, including notifying parents ad schools that did not achieve AYP, providing supplemental education services and professional development at the district’s title One school and developing and Education Proficiency plan for the high school.

Debbie Gardner can be reached by e-mail at debbieg@thereminder.com