Above: Did Southborough students fare as well on their standardized tests as you hoped? (Photo posted to Flickr by by albertogp123)
The Massachusetts Department of Education has released the results of the MCAS tests from spring 2014.
How did we do?
It depends on your perspective. I’m sure some will be pleased and others disappointed.
There weren’t any big trends that jumped out at me. Results varied by grade and subject.
There’s a lot of data available on the MassDOE website. I pulled together some highlights.
Below is the breakdown of proficient or higher scores by grade and subject. I included the change from last year and also from 2011 for a longer term look. (That’s as far back as the DOE had posted.)
For a more detailed look at this year’s scores, click on the data table below to enlarge. (Enlarged version includes definitions for CPI and SGP.)
Unfortunately, I can’t give you a direct comparison to surrounding school districts. Our neighbors’ overall scores are for Grades 3-10. Because of our regional high school, ours are split by 3-8 and then Algonquin alone.
But if you’d like to take a better look at the statewide report and where we stand, click here.
Why is it comped to 2011? Either show every year or some rationale. Year-over-year is obviously concerning…
I was trying to pull out some highlights. So I chose comparison to last year and to the oldest data they shared.
If you would like to look at more data, I included the links.
Not sure the year over year is that concerning. Looks like over the past year, cumulative change is 1 point. (If you add all the scores together, we went from a 1401 total to 1400).
Obviously we would love to improve every year, and you can look to individual entries that might be better, but the overall drop was literally the smallest drop mathematically possible.
I’d look at the numbers overall as good, since we’re much better than a few years ago, and essentially equal to last year.
Is this the beginning of the ‘Common Core Effect?’
There is additional information on the DOE website. MCAS measures whether or not students have achieved a minimum level of proficiency in English, math, and science. The district overall and Trottier specifically continue to miss annual yearly progress (AYP) targets in special education. The categories of students missing targets in Southborough are students with disabilities, high needs students, and ELL/former ELL students. Our district progress is summarized here: http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/accountability/report/district.aspx?linkid=30&orgcode=02760000&orgtypecode=5&
The schools are listed at the bottom and can be viewed individually in terms of overall progress. Trottier for instance is categorized as a Level 2, Title 1 school for continued failures. Title 1 means they are even being allocated federal funds to target improvements and yet they are still not seeing appropriate improvement. The rights of students to make adequate progress is protected by federal law with due process remedies if needed. It is our moral and legal mandate. If children do not make adequate progress in obtaining the skills they need by middle school, they begin to run out of time to do so and the lifelong implications are very serious.
This information should alarm and prompt parents of students on IEPs to look objectively at their own child’s progress and ensure that the IEP goals and services are designed to ensure progress. Is your child building grade level skills? Doing homework independently? Exhibiting warning signs of overwhelming stress? If so, feel free to connect with the Northborough-Southborough Special Education Parent Advisory Committee- NSPAC at http://www.nspac.org. There are many others who are or have been in the same situation as you who can support you. Unfortunately many families in this town have had to obtain independent testing and hire advocates in order to assist them in receiving appropriate services.
Annette Flaherty
Co-President, NSPAC
Because my response to a comment in the open thread related to this story, I’m including it here, too.
“Sophia” included a link about problems with MCAS in 8th grade: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2014/09/29/fewer-public-schools-earn-top-mass-rating/d4xEpnGhGPlAGxhNVA9NZN/story.html?p1=Must_Reads_hp
My response:
Interesting. I dug through the MassDOE site and found that Neary and Woodward received Level 1 ratings, but Trottier only ranked Level 2.
As shown in the article you link to, the level refers to how well the school did improving the performance of lower testing students. And it appears to be an issue that tripped up many schools.
The Boston Globe reported that 86 schools dropped from 8th grade Level 1 to Level 2 in past 2 years.
I don’t know what Southborough’s level was 2 years ago – so I don’t know if it dropped or not.
By the way, if you want for more data on those levels for Southborough, look here:
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/accountability/report/district.aspx?linkid=30&orgcode=02760000&orgtypecode=5&