Overhauled MCAS scores reveal progress by Old Rochester Regional

Sep 26, 2018

Old Rochester Regional showed moderate improvements on the “next-generation” MCAS scores released Thursday, which included a new system designed to assess school and academic performance. 

“I think it’s a work in progress,” said Old Rochester Superintendent Douglas White in reference to the district scores this year.

He added that the schools are working toward understand the new tests and the new accountability system. 

Debuting last year, students in grades three through eight first took the overhauled MCAS tests via computers. Introduced between 1996 and 2006, the MCAS legacy tests were taken with a pencil and paper. Those paper tests have since been considered outdated and will be phased out largely because the proficiency standards vary from grade to grade. 

Next-generation tests are designed to act in a more consistent manner to give a clear indication of a student’s readiness for the next grade level and college preparedness. 

The tests focus on critical thinking, knowledge application and the ability to make connections between reading and writing. The next-generation MCAS exams will be introduced to students in grade 10 beginning in 2019. 

Scores for the next-generation tests fall into four categories: exceeding expectations, meeting expectations, partly meeting expectations, and not meeting expectations. 

State scores “meeting or exceeding” expectations for 2018 are 51 percent for English language arts and 48 percent for mathematics.

Old Rochester Regional School District students mostly improved from last year, with few exceptions. 

Old Rochester Jr. High School faired well; 66 percent of students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts, while 66 percent scored in the same way in mathematics, a 5 percent increase from last year. 

Compared to state scores, Old Rochester Jr. High had 10 percent fewer students from grade seven which do not meet expectations and 18 percent more students who at least met expectations.

Fifty-eight percent of students at Rochester Memorial School students met or exceeded in English (up one point from last year), and jumped from 54 percent to 58 percent in mathematics this year. 

Rochester Memorial School had 13 percent fewer students in grade five and six who did not meet expectations when compared to state scores. 

In the meeting and exceeding categories, Old Hammondtown School students moved up 6 percentage points from last year to 80 percent in English, while remaining steady at 72 percent in mathematics. 

Sippican Elementary School was a mixed bag. Six percent more students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts than last year, but 5 percent fewer in mathematics. 

Thirty-eight percent of Sippican Elementary School students in the third grade exceeded expectations, 29 percentage points above the state average. 

Center School is the biggest exception to the relative success of the district. Of the students at Center School, 59 percent met or exceeded expectations in English, a 14 percent decrease from last year. Forty-five percent of students scored the same way in math, a 24 percent decrease. There was no major increase, however, to student scores in the “not meeting” expectations category.

Thursday’s scores also unveiled new accountability measures for schools and districts. Previously, schools were rated on a system of levels from 1 to 5, with 5 marking state receivership. 

Under the new system, schools will be designated as either: a school of recognition, meeting targets/partially meeting targets, requiring targeted assistance or requiring broad comprehensive support. The new rating system takes into account many factors, including science, mathematics, and English scores, graduation rates, absenteeism, drop out rates and academic growth scores among others.

MCAS scores show that Sippican Elementary School and Rochester Memorial School are meeting targets, and Old Rochester Jr. High School is only partially meeting targets. None of those schools have been designated for assistance or intervention. 

Mattapoisett district schools, Old Hammondtown School and Center School, are meeting the targets under the new system but are considered to require assistance for their high need students as a result of low participation. 

White said the Mattapoisett district schools are performing well under the new system, but that new accountability system identified a small group of students who did not participate in the tests. Those students are under the supervision of the district, but were not considered for participation in the test. 

“We need to continue to ensure that our curriculum is aligned and that we continue to provide support at every level for our students,” said White. “If we do that, I think we will continue to look at improving our overall achievement scores and growth scores.”

For the legacy MCAS test this year, the scores of Old Rochester’s tenth grade students revealed a small decline from last year but they still surpassed the state scores in English, mathematics, and science in many categories. That version of the test is scored as follows: proficient or higher, advanced, proficient, needs improvement and warning/failing.

In 2018, the state score for students testing proficient or higher in English language arts was 91 percent. Tenth grade students at Old Rochester scored 95 percent, down four percentage points from a year ago.

In mathematics, the state score was 78 percent proficient or higher and Old Rochester students hit 89 percent. The scores did drop seven percentage points from 96 percent last year. 

Down five percentage points from last year, the students scored 83 percent proficient or higher in science. The state score was 74 percent. 

There were no major changes this year for students in the warning/failing category of the MCAS score.