This article appears courtesy of the Springfield Republican.
October 5, 2007
By Marla A. Goldberg
SPRINGFIELD - Yesterday was a day to celebrate at Springfield’s Samuel Bowles School, where fourth-grade scores on Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests rose dramatically.
Principal Luisa Rivera credited early-morning MCAS tutoring sessions last year, plus monthly in-house math testing and essay-writing, for the improvements. "It’s just the commitment of the students and the parents . . . the kids want to do well," she said.
A handful of Western Massachusetts schools, including Bowles, Springfield’s Washington School, Holyoke Community Charter School, and Holyoke’s Lt. Clayre Sullivan Elementary School, emerged among the top gainers statewide in the 2007 scores released yesterday.
"We had some schools that just really stood out," said Springfield Superintendent Joseph P. Burke. As a district, Springfield met its adequate yearly progress target in math for the first time, and saw a notable gain in composite performance by Hispanic students, which indicates "a closing of the gap, particularly in math," Burke said.
High school seniors in Massachusetts must pass 10th-grade English and math tests in order to graduate. They must score at least 220 on each section.
Statewide, 87 percent of 10th-graders passed on their first try last spring, up from 84 percent in 2006. However, seniors graduating in 2010, who are sophomores now, will also have to pass science exams.
Yesterday’s scores show improvements among 10th-graders across Western Massachusetts, with fewer failing and more attaining proficient or advanced status.
There were notable improvements in Palmer, where 40 percent of sophomores tested advanced in math, up from 28 percent in 2006. Palmer’s 10th-graders who got failing grades in math fell from 13 to 9 percent, while English results also improved substantially, with 16 percent getting top scores, up from 1 percent in 2006.
Palmer High School principal Bonny B. Rathbone said the staff was "very, very pleased," and her students take MCAS math classes as part of the regular school day.
In Holyoke, the number of sophomores who tested very low in math dropped, from 36 to 27 percent, and those who got failing English scores declined from 22 to 16 percent.
Holyoke Superintendent Eduardo B. Carballo also cheered successes by the Lt. Elmer McMahon School and E.N. White School, which reached federal progress targets for the first time. However, Holyoke’s William J. Dean Technical High School, which has consistently struggled, saw the district’s largest single improvement. Dean Tech’s 10th-grade failure rate in math dropped from 52 percent in 2006 to 32 percent last spring.
In Chicopee, 7 percent of 10th-graders got top scores in English, up from 3 percent in 2006, while failing rates held steady at 12 percent. Seventeen percent of Chicopee sophomores tested advanced in math, up slightly from 15 percent last year, and those who got warning and or failing math grades fell from 27 to 23 percent.
Districts which maintained, or topped their records of high performance include Amherst-Pelham, Belchertown, East Longmeadow, Hadley, Hampden-Wilbraham, Hatfield, Longmeadow, Northampton, Pioneer Valley Regional, Ralph C. Mahar Regional and Quabbin Regional. Others made strong showings, including Frontier Regional and Granby Jr.-Sr. High School, while Ware’s composite scores bounced into the top tier. Charter schools that fared well included Pioneer Valley Performing Arts and Sabis International.
West Springfield’s Mittineague Elementary School achieved a dramatic leap in math scores. Of third-grade pupils, 60 percent scored advanced in math and 27 percent proficient, up from 10 percent advanced and 70 proficient in 2006. Grade 4 advanced scores rose from 11 to 38 percent.
"We are so far above the state target, its incredible, " said Mittineague principal Paul M. Heath. The school has multiple math nights and special events. "We’ve taken the fear out of math, making it fun and challenging," he said.
In Springfield and some other districts, concerns remain over poor eighth-grade performance in math and science. At Springfield’s John F. Kennedy Middle School, 69 percent of eighth-graders got warning scores in math, as did 68 percent in science. At the M. Marcus Kiley Middle School, 69 percent got a warning in math, as did 67 percent in science.
"There’s a curriculum issue at the middle school level that we have to address," Burke said.
Springfield Director of Science Ronald P. St. Amand was set to make a presentation to the School Committee last night about improvements to middle-school science that are under way. A four-strand curriculum integrating earth and space, life science, physical science, technology and engineering, is being replaced over time with year-long stand-alone courses in those subjects.
Noel P. Pixley, principal of the Thornton Burgess Middle School in Hampden, and first vice president of the Massachusetts Secondary Schools Administrators Association, said there is no easy explanation for poor middle school performance in math and science. However, adolescents are a challenging population to teach. "It’s a very difficult time for children, (and) part of that is distractibility," Pixley said.
Thornton Burgess’ eighth-graders fared quite well on the MCAS, with only 13 percent getting a warning in math and 5 percent in science.
At Northampton High School, 55 percent of 10th-graders tested advanced in math, up from 52 percent in 2006. In English, 26 percent of Northampton’s 10th-graders excelled, up from 16 percent last year.
Staff writers Angela Carbone and Lori Stabile contributed to this article.