By Mitch Evans
At the October 7 School Committee meeting, Assistant Superintendent Claire Jackson gave a favorable report on this year’s MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) results for the Bedford School District. Bedford High School was awarded one of only 45 commendations from the State for its progress in 2013/14. On examination of the overall results, Dr. Jackson was proud to report on the School District’s accomplishments, stating that “the results were a reflection on the achievements of the staff and students in all our schools”.
A new progress and performance score, the Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs), has been included in this year’s reports. These SGPs scores are obtained by using students’ historical MCAS results to calculate the individual’s change in achievement over a two year period. This allows for a direct state wide comparison of students with similar MCAS scores in previous years. The new growth scores are only available for students taking the standard MCAS test in grades 4-8 and grade 10 in English language arts and mathematics. As the growth model uses MCAS results from previous years, no results are available for grade 3, (the first grade of MCAS testing) or for science (science is tested only in grades 5, 8, and high school). All MCAS results are analyzed and reported for individual students, as well as by schools, and for districts.
In this year’s report, schools were awarded between 0 and 100 points based on improvement in narrowing proficiency gaps, student growth and dropout rates.
Five performance levels were then allocated to these scores.
• Advanced – 260–280
• Proficient – 240–258
• Needs Improvement – 220–238
• Warning (grades 3–8)
• Failing (high school) – 200–218
Source : https://www.doe.mass.edu
John Glenn Middle School and Job Lane Elementary School both received a ‘Proficient’ performance level in this year’s report. School officials felt that the addition of the Skills Center, which offers a range of support services for students at the Middle School, strengthened by the commitment of the teachers and the administration, has begun to have a measurable impact on the performance of those students accessing it. A recommendation was made to the Committee to consider expanding the Skills Center model to Lane School.
The METCO program was also recognized for supporting the after school math schedule, which resulted in a closing of the achievement gap for this group of students. A general drop in the Math achievement levels between 5th and 6th grade was also observed. Approximately 90% of students in 5th Grade in 2013 scored either ‘Advanced’ or ‘Proficient’ in the Math MCAS. However, of these same students, only 80% achieved the same levels in Grade 6 in 2014. Further analysis will be performed to better understand the cause for this change. Dr. Jackson went on to congratulate Bedford High School, which obtained an Advanced classification, one of only 500 schools in Massachusetts to do so.
For further information on the MCAS data, visit https://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/dart
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