Passing and Proficient are Two Different Things

Oftentimes when discussing MCAS or other standardized testing, results are reported in terms of the percentage of students who achieved 'Proficient' or 'Advanced' on the exam. In Massachusetts, however, in order to "pass" the MCAS students actually only need to achieve 'Needs Improvement' better at every grade level except the 10th grade exams. Thus, there can be a considerable difference between the percentage of students who are considered to be proficient in math, for example, when compared to the percentage of students who passed the test. For students who have not achieved proficiency on the 10th grade math and English language arts exams, students are required to have an Educational Proficiency Plan in order meet the Competency Determination standard. 

Below are the proficiency and pass rates for the Lynn Public School System on the 2011 Reading/ELA MCAS exam.

	Proficient/Advanced	Passing
Aborn	69	94
Brickett	53	96
Callahan	46	91
Cobbet	29	82
Connery	29	71
Drewicz	45	91
Ford	41	86
Harrington	35	79
Hood	44	87
Ingalls	36	77
Lincoln-Thomson	62	99
Lynn Woods	50	83
Sewell Anderson	44	85
Shoemaker	58	87
Sisson	72	95
Tracy	42	66
Washington	4	52
Breed	55	87
KIPP	65	94
Marshall	47	82
Pickering	64	91
Lynn Classical	78	78**
Lynn English	74	74**
Lynn Tech	53	53**
Lynn (District)	51	85

*Lynn (District) does not include KIPP.

**In order to graduate from high school, students need to score a 240 or better which corresponds to achieving proficiency. Thus in high school, passing and proficient are the same. 

Here we see that some schools saw the majority of their students pass the MCAS but a much lower percentage achieve proficiency. At Brickett, for example, 96% of students passed the MCAS in Reading/ELA while only 53% achieved proficiency. At Cobbet, 53% of students were in the 'Needs Improvement Category' which accounts for the difference in proficiency versus pass rates. The percentage of students achieving proficiency ranged from 4% to 78% while the percentage of students passing ranged from 52% to 99%.

Below are the proficiency and pass rates for the Lynn Public School System on the 2011 Math MCAS exam.

	Proficient/Advanced	Passing
Aborn	69	97
Brickett	41	89
Callahan	44	88
Cobbet	33	76
Connery	31	63
Drewicz	50	89
Ford	41	83
Harrington	35	78
Hood	43	84
Ingalls	44	77
Lincoln-Thomson	63	97
Lynn Woods	40	83
Sewell Anderson	39	83
Shoemaker	52	84
Sisson	74	93
Tracy	50	85
Washington	12	50
Breed	32	66
KIPP	56	88
Marshall	21	54
Pickering	50	79
Lynn Classical	68	68**
Lynn English	66	66**
Lynn Tech	34	34**
Lynn (District)*	41	74

*Lynn (District) does not include KIPP.

**In order to graduate from high school, students need to score a 240 or better which corresponds to achieving proficiency. Thus, in high school proficiency and passing are the same. 

Here we see that at the middle school level (excluding KIPP), math MCAS proficiency rates 50% or lower while pass rates were between 54% and 79%. Also while less than half of the students in Lynn achieved proficiency, nearly three quarters passed in 2011. Proficiency rates ranged from 12% to 74% while pass rates ranged from 50% to 97%. 

**All Data Taken from: www.mass.doe.edu