MCAS results were good, schools aim for even better
Published on December 5th, 2001
STONEHAM , MA - “We have a strong core of committed staff. We have parents who care and students who try,” said Stoneham Assistant School Superintendent Dr. Joseph Casey, explaining to the School Committee and parents on Thursday what makes Stoneham’s MCAS test results so impressive.
The MCAS exam is the state’s standardized testing tool for elementary and secondary students. The results from last spring came in this fall.
“Our students are competent across the board,” Casey summarized.
The MCAS exam tests students in grades four, eight and 10 in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math. History / Social Studies and Science are also tested, but because those frameworks are still being developed by the state the results are not officially reported.
The 10th grade test is considered “high stakes” in that passing it is a requirement for high school graduation.
Stoneham out performed state averages in all areas.
In comparison to other Middlesex League communities, Stoneham also excelled. For grade four combined Math and ELA scores, Stoneham ranked sixth, moving up from last year’s ninth place finish. Only Winchester, Lexington, Belmont, Woburn and Reading scored higher.
With regard to the combined score for grade eight MCAS, Stoneham also placed sixth. In this case, Melrose finished ahead of Stoneham students, while Woburn fell behind.
The grade 10 combined scores were likewise impressive. Stoneham placed fourth, with only Winchester, Lexington and Belmont scoring higher.
Stoneham has also consistently outperformed itself from year to year.
“The longer students are here in Stoneham, the better they do,” Casey said. “What we’ve seen over the last three years is that Stoneham has accepted the challenge not to teach to MCAS, but to teach to standards, not to teach MCAS, but to teach students...”
This year the state also implemented unofficial testing of grade three Reading, grade 6 Math, and grade 8 English Language Arts.
In the past, when the state returned test results to school districts, the task of analyzing those results was arduous and time consuming. This year, Stoneham has better software tools with which to analyze MCAS performance in considerably less time and in even greater detail.
That data now allows school administrators, principals and teachers to focus on specific areas of student performance, information critical in helping align curriculum to state standards.
Casey said that even information on individual student performance can be easily obtained.
“You parents want to know ‘what are you doing for my child,’” Casey acknowledged.
For those students in the “high stakes” testing category who have not passed the 10th grade MCAS test, extensive remediation is available.
According to Casey, the MCAS Academy is a program designed to prepare at risk students for retaking the test. This program has been made available through grant money.
In addition, an individualized student success plan is created for each student.
Yet for any of this to be effective, Casey added, “students have to work with us, and their parents have to support us and the student in that endeavor.”
Other action plans in place at the secondary level to align curriculum with state frameworks include focusing on geometry and measurement as well as writing.
At the elementary level, action plans are also in place based on the MCAS data analysis, explained Elementary Curriculum Director Marie Funk.
Funk said that principals and teachers are able to incorporate areas that posed difficulty to students directly into curriculum. Types of questions used by MCAS as well as vocabulary used in the tests are examples of what is being assimilated into daily learning.
Professional development for staff at all levels is also planned in order to strengthen and focus instruction.
While Casey applauded the efforts of elementary school staff for continuing to teach critical material amidst “massive moves across the district...without missing a beat,” as necessitated by the school rebuilding project, he praised the efforts of all who work for the good of educating Stoneham children.
“We’re working together in a unified, thoughtful, planned manner to make sure that education is a daily event in the lives of all the children in Stoneham,” Casey concluded.
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