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

Brockton Sees Gender Disparities in MCAS Proficiency Rates

In 2011, Lynn saw some significant gender disparities in graduation rates at three out of the four high schools. The Brockton public school system also saw a gender disparity in its graduation rate with 64.5% of males graduating in four years while 74.7% of females graduated. The gender disparity on Brockton's educational related outcomes in 2011 also extended to standardized test scores (MCAS). 

The biggest gaps between males and females were in English language arts where there was a 13.3 point average difference in proficiency rates at each grade level; the range was between eight  and  seventeen points. This is not particularly surprising given research which suggests that females tend to do better in reading/writing than males. The smallest gap between males and females in Brockton was in the third grade reading proficiency rates. In 2011, 33% of third graders scored proficient or above on the MCAS test. When broken down by gender, 29% of males achieved proficiency on this exam compared to 37% of females. Third grade reading proficiency rates have been established as highly predictive of the likelihood of graduating from high school; the gender disparity in reading at this level was mirrored by the previously mentioned disparity in graduation rates between males and females. The largest gaps between males and females was in 7th grade English language arts (ELA) where 64% of females achieved proficiency compared to 47% of males. The disparities in reading/ELA proficiency rates at all of the grade levels were as follows:

• 3rd:   37% females versus 29% males
• 4th:   36% females versus 21% males
• 5th:   52% females versus 40% males
• 6th:   53% females versus 37% males
• 7th:   64% females versus 47% males
• 8th:   75% females versus 61% males 
• 10th:  80% females versus 70% males

In mathematics, gender disparities were much smaller with an average 2.8 point difference in proficiency rates at each grade level. Males actually performed equal to or better than females at two grade levels in this subject area. At the third grade level, males and females had the same proficiency rate in math (38%) while on the 4th grade exam, males did better than females by a single percentage point (22% females vs. 23% for females). Overall, females in Brockton had a 37% proficiency rate in math while males had a 34% proficiency rate. The disparities in mathematics at all grade levels are as follows: 

• 3rd:  38% females versus 38% males
• 4th:  22% females versus 23% males
• 5th:  36% females versus 33% males
• 6th:  35% females versus 30% males
• 7th:  33% females versus 28% males
• 8th:  34% females versus 32% males
• 10th: 62% females versus 60% males

On the 2011 science MCAS exam, which was only taken in grades 5, 8 and 10, females only had a higher proficiency rate on the 8th grade exam (17% versus 14%). On the 5th grade science exam, males had a 20% proficiency rate compared to 18% for females and on the 10th grade exam both genders had a 50% proficiency rate. The average difference in proficiency rates on the science exam was 1.5 percentage points.

*All Data Taken From: http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/mcas/subgroups2.aspx?linkid=25&orgcode=00440000&fycode=2011&orgtypecode=5&

MA Board of Education Approves 4 New Charter Schools

As previously posted, Ed Commissioner Chester Mitchell recommended the approval of four new charter schools from a field which included six final round applicants. Today (2/28) the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to grant charters to the founders of the proposed new schools. Two of the schools (Dudley Street Neighborhood School, Boston and the Paulo Freire Social Justice School, Holyoke) will open in the fall of 2012 while the other two (Baystate Academy, Springfield and Collegiate Charter of Lowell) will open in 2013.

This Day in History: February 24

-In Marbury v. Madison, the U.S. Supreme Court established judicial review, 1803

-Arizona is organized as a U.S. territory, 1863

-The Nazi Party is founded, 1920

-Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after almost 50 years in power, 2008

-Holiday: Flag Day (Mexico); National Artist Day (Thailand)

Where are the Charter Schools in Massachusetts?

In Massachusetts, there are 72 (Commonwealth and Horace Mann) charter schools with students currently enrolled; seven more approved charter schools are set to open for the 2012-13 school. year The Massachusetts Ed Commissioner has also recommended that four more charter schools be approved to open in the next few years. So, where are all the charter schools located in Massachusetts?

Adams	1
Amesbury	1
Boston*	22
Cambridge	3
Chelsea	2
Chicopee	1
Devens	1
Everett	1
Fall River	1
Fitchburg	1
Foxborough	1
Framingham	1
Franklin	1
Gloucester	1
Greenfield	1
Hadley	1
Haverhill	2
Haydenville	1
Holyoke	1
Hyannis	2
Lawrence	2
Lowell	2
Lynn	1
Malden	1
Marblehead	1
Marlborough	1
Marston Hills	1
New Bedford	2
Newburyport	1
Norwell	1
Orleans	1
Plymouth	1
Salem	2
South Hadley	1
Springfield	3
Tyngsboro	1
West Tisbury	1
Worcester	3

*Boston includes Brighton, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park-Readville, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and South Boston.

Here we see that a large percentage (31%) of the charter schools in Massachusetts are located in Boston with Dorchester alone housing five charters. Interestingly, most of the other cities/towns on the list only have one or two charters while Cambridge, Springfield, and Worcester have the most after Boston with three each. Of the Commissioner's ten urban districts, Brockton is the only city that does not have any charters; also none of the charter schools approved or recommended for approval will be located there. When the seven new charter schools open this year, two more charters will be located in Lawrence, four more in Boston (with one also serving Chelsea students),  and one more in Springfield. As previously posted, the charters recommended for approval this year will potentially be located in Boston, Holyoke, Lowell, and Springfield.

Massachusetts Ed Commissioner Recommends Approval of 4 New Charters

On February 16, 2012, Massachusetts Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Chester Mitchell announced that he will recommend four new charters be granted to groups looking to open schools in Boston, Holyoke, Springfield and Lowell. Baystate Academy Charter (Springfield), Collegiate Charter of Lowell, and Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter (Holyoke) will be Commonwealth charter schools while Dudley Street Neighborhood School (Boston) will be a Horace Mann charter school. Commonwealth charters are fully autonomous and operate independently of the local school district; Horace Mann charters are developed and operated in close operation with the host school district and, unlike Commonwealth charters, require approval by the local school committee. Two other charter school applicants during the 2011-12 cycle (Somerville Progressive and Springfield Preparatory) were not recommended for approval but can reapply during future cycles.

• Baystate Academy Charter School will enroll Springfield students in grades 6-12 beginning in 2013-14 and has a proposed maximum capacity of 560 students (80 students in each grade). According to the schools' founders, Baystate will have a STEM focused, health sciences orientated curriculum. The school plans to partner with Baystate Health, Springfield Technical Community College, and Expeditionary Learning in order to prepare students to enter their post-secondary education and health careers with scientific and technical knowledge.
• Lowell Collegiate Charter School (LCCS) will enroll students in grades K-12 also beginning in 2013-13 and has a proposed maximum capacity of 1,200 students. The school will start with grades K-5 and will expand until it reaches the 12th grade. LCCS will fully implement SABIS education program, assessment system, instructional methods and school management model.
• Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School will enroll 500 students from Holyoke, West Springfield, Chicopee, Westfield, South Hadley and Northampton in grades 9-12. PFSJCS will run on an 180 day school year beginning in 2012-13 with students attending class from 8:30am - 4pm four days a week and 8:30am - 3pm on Fridays. The focus of PFSJCS's educational program will be centered on Personal Excellence, Supportive Communities, and Social Responsibility.
• Dudley Street Neighborhood School will enroll 308 students from Boston in grades K- 5 starting in 2012-13. Dudley will not only run on a longer school day/year but will also implement mixed-grade, looped two year classrooms so that teachers have time to adequately address individual learning needs. Students will be taught by teacher teams of four who will be responsible for 88 students over the two year period; on each team, at least one teacher will be dual-licensed in ESL and one who is dual-licensed in Students with Moderate Disabilities.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will vote on the Commissioner's recommendations for charter school approval on February 28, 2012. There are currently 79 approved charter schools in Massachusetts; approval of these four schools would bring the total to 83.

Graduation Rates in Lynn Vary by Subgroup

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently reported both the graduation and dropout rates for the 2010-11 school year. As previously noted, Lynn's dropout rate decreased from 5.4% in 2009-10 to 4.6% in 2010-11 while the graduation rate increased from 68.5% to 68.6% during the same time period. This data indicates educational outcomes for the district as a whole, but what about individual subgroups? The most salient subgroups for our purposes are male, female, English language learner, special education, low income, African American/black, Asian, Hispanic and White.

[Note:] The graduation rate in Massachusetts is calculated by dividing the number of students who start 9th grade for the first time in the same year minus those who transfer out plus those who transfer in by the number of students in the cohort who graduate in four years or less. Thus the 2011 graduation rate statistic is related to students who started high school in the fall of 2007. 

In Lynn, the 2011 cohort group consisted of 1097 students. Females in this group were more likely to graduate in four years or less than males (74.8% graduation rate versus 63.5%). Similar gender disparities were seen in Danvers (92% vs. 84.3%), Revere (77.5% vs. 64%) and Salem (86.1% vs. 74.8%). The graduation rate for low income students was not substantially lower than the average for the city (65.8%) while English language learners and special education students did graduate at lower rates (59% and 48.1% respectively). 

At Lynn English, 80.2% of students starting 9th grade in 2007 graduated in four years or less. English language learners and special education students did graduate at a lower rate than the school average but at a higher rate than the district statistics (73.1%, 56.6%). Special education students did post the highest dropout and non-grad completer rates for all of the listed subgroups. Interestingly, of the racial/ethnic groups, Asian and African American/black students posted the highest graduation rates.

At Lynn Classical, 75.3% of students graduated in four years or less. There was an exactly 10 percentage points difference in grad rates between males and females while there was a 13 percentage point difference between white and Hispanic students. English language learners graduated from Classical at a slightly lower rate the Lynn English and the district average (55.1%); this group also had the highest rate of non-grad completers.

At Lynn Tech, 55.2% of students graduated in four years or less. Less than half of English language learners , special education and Asian students graduated in four years while white students had a 66.7% graduation rate. In this cohort group, nearly 12% were still in school (likely to complete a fifth year) while almost a quarter had dropped out. Four year dropout rates for all subgroups ranged between 20 - 33.3%.

Fecteau-Leary had a small cohort (56) of which 19.6% graduated within four years. Nearly 30% of these students dropped out while 30.4% of the students were still in school and 12.5% received a GED. This was the one school in Lynn where males were more likely to graduate than females (20% vs. 18.8%). The graduation rate for special education students did not differ greatly from the average for the school though this group did have the highest dropout rate.

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