Lynn's MCAS Performance in Context

In previous posts, MCAS results were previously reported for the Lynn Public Schools by grade level, school and by year (see here, here, here, here, & here). As Lynn is often maligned for, among other things, its public school system, it would of interest to actually know how Lynn performs academically in comparison with other public schools on the North Shore. 

As a reminder, listed below are the percentage of students who achieved proficient or higher on each portion of the Spring 2011 MCAS test by grade level. Once again, 'all' refers to the school district as a whole.

Lynn

	English	Math
3	47	55
4	33	30
5	51	46
6	42	35
7	51	29
8	63	30
10	70	57
All	51	41

Now let's look at the Spring 2011 MCAS test results for some of the cities that surround Lynn.

Swampscott				Peabody
	English	Math			English	Math
3	80	85		3	58	59
4	67	57		4	57	41
5	76	63		5	68	55
6	84	72		6	67	55
7	79	65		7	74	41
8	94	65		8	82	50
10	92	86		10	76	69
All	82	71		All	69	52
Revere				Salem
	English	Math			English	Math
3	51	62		3	46	46
4	51	41		4	35	30
5	61	54		5	52	46
6	58	51		6	54	45
7	70	44		7	60	36
8	82	43		8	68	34
10	75	66		10	66	59
All	63	51		All	54	42
Saugus				Marblehead
	English	Math			English	Math
3	63	77		3	77	74
4	47	41		4	67	48
5	69	60		5	86	81
6	64	58		6	86	79
7	63	39		7	92	66
8	75	42		8	94	78
10	78	68		10	96	94
All	65	54		All	85	74
Danvers				Beverly
	English	Math			English	Math
3	76	78		3	60	62
4	57	47		4	53	45
5	75	63		5	73	58
6	77	60		6	74	56
7	78	58		7	76	50
8	84	62		8	81	52
10	91	79		10	87	80
All	77	63		All	72	57

One should note that these cities do differ from Lynn in a number of ways. In terms of demographics, the Lynn public school system  is nearly 80% low income students. Other cities on the North Shore have much lower percentages of low income students (ex. Marblehead: 8.3%; Swampscott: 11.4%; Danvers 15.4%). This is important as poverty has been shown to result in a number of negative effects including poor overall health and nutrition as well as memory and psychological problems (see here). This undoubtedly may, in part, contribute to the low academic achievement in the Lynn Public School System. Additionally, 21.6% of Lynn students are limited English proficiency which adds another challenge in terms of achievement on standardized test scores. Cities like Beverly and Swampscott have much lower percentages of limited English proficiency students (1.4% and 2.6%, respectively). All of these confounding factors, among others, are relevant to the discussion of comparing achievement levels. While it may be interesting to know where Lynn stands in comparison with its North Shore neighbors, it is important to keep these results in context in terms of varying student populations,  income levels, parental involvement, attendance rates, and financial resources. Discussing academic achievement should involve more than just these numbers.

All Data Taken from: http://www.doe.mass.gov/