"After stagnant MCAS results, 6 more schools ‘underperforming’" by James Vaznis | Globe Staff September 19, 2014
Massachusetts education officials designated six more schools, including two in Boston, as “underperforming” on Friday, as they released the latest MCAS scores showing that statewide results were largely stagnant.
On the high-stakes 10th-grade exam, 88 percent of test-takers, the same rate as the previous year, passed the English, math, and science exams on their first try last spring — satisfying a state graduation requirement for tens of thousands of students.
Third-graders failed to budge years of low and static reading scores, with only 57 percent scoring proficient or advanced, the same rate as the previous year. Reading with proficiency at the end of third grade is considered a barometer of future academic success.
The annual announcement, which included results for individual schools and districts, contained some good news.
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But instead of dwelling on the lack of notable movement between this year’s scores and the previous year, state officials touted trends in results over a longer period of time, which showed gaps in achievement narrowing among students of different socio-economic backgrounds....
Scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exams are stagnating for a variety of reasons, education experts say.
Many suburban districts have raised their scores so high that there is little room for growth. Other school systems are experiencing increases in student populations more challenging to teach, such as those from low-income households or learning to speak English.
Like illegal immigrant kids that are surreptitiously being dumped in this state. That is why the crisis has faded from the news pages even as the evidence is all around us.
Related:
Border Patrol to test wearing cameras
The cops are complaining?
Social Security reaps a windfall from undocumented workers
So did Lockheed, and no wonder the $tatu$ quo remains despite the $hit fooley politics.
Of course, there is NO CONCERN about an ISIS TERRORIST slipping across the border with a biological weapon.
The state could accelerate achievement by pursuing such measures as offering universal access to preschool and more funding to lengthen school days, said Thomas Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents.
Nevertheless, this year’s scores are historic. It is the last batch to be released under the Patrick administration, and it might mark the last time state officials release MCAS scores for all schools in Massachusetts.
The state is considering replacing the MCAS with a new online testing system, which it started trying out in the spring with a small fraction of students statewide. No scores were released from that tryout....
I'm sure there were articles and links I could go find, but why bother anymore? Who gives a f*** anymore about what is in the Boston Globe?
Friday’s announcement created a stir at Springfield’s Van Sickle Middle School. A petition began circulating. “We deserve a second look and our students deserve to be more than just a number on a standardized test,” said Brittany Blake, an eighth-grade English teacher spearheading the petition. “MCAS is such a flawed system.”
A possibility lingers the state might formally declare another school as underperforming: Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Roxbury. Chester said he is giving Boston a few weeks to pull together its overhaul plan for Madison Park, which has been marred by ongoing problems....
Related: Madison Park Mess
Good news also found its way to Lawrence....
See: Overhaul of Lawrence schools showing results
Also see: After 38 years, search for missing Lawrence boy renewed
Witnesses reported seeing Andy leaving the pool and heading toward the woods with an older man and a younger boy?
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