Lynn Graduates Post-Secondary Plans 2010-11

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) reports the plans of high school graduates at the district and individual school level. This information recently became available for the 2010-11 school year. 

	MA
4 yr Private College	31%
4 yr Public College	28%
2 yr Private College	1%
2 yr Public College	22%
Other Post Secondary	2%
Work	7%
Military	2%
Other	1%
Unknown	6%

Overall, 59% of Massachusetts students planned to attend a 4 year private or public college/university while 23% planned to attend a 2 year public or private college/university.

	Lynn
4 yr Private College	12%
4 yr Public College	21%
2 yr Private College	8%
2 yr Public College	42%
Other Post Secondary	1%
Work	7%
Military	3%
Other	1%
Unknown	5%

In Lynn, 83% of students planned to attend college at either a 2 or 4 year college or university. The highest percentage of students planned to attend a 2 year public college which is unsurprising given the close proximity of North Shore Community College as well as other 2 year schools like Bunker Hill Community College. In comparison to the state statistics, Lynn had lower percentages of students plan to attend 4 year public or private colleges or universities but a higher percentage of students planning to enroll in a 2 year public college; the rates of students joining either the military or the workforce were essentially the same as at the state level.

	Classical	English	Fecteau-Leary	LTVI
4 yr Private College	14%	14%	0%	6%
4 yr Public College	26%	25%	0%	7%
2 yr Private College	9%	9%	17%	4%
2 yr Public College	39%	40%	67%	46%
Other Post Secondary	1%	0%	0%	4%
Work	2%	3%	6%	25%
Military	2%	3%	0%	5%
Other	3%	0%	0%	1%
Unknown	6%	4%	11%	3%

At the individual school level, both Lynn English and Classical had a higher percentage of students planning to attend a 4 year private or public college.university than the city average. A quarter of students at Lynn Tech planned to enter the workforce while nearly half planned to attend a 2 year public college. Rates of military enrollment ranged from 2% to 5% while the rate of students with 'unknown' plans was considerable particularly at Fecteau Leary. Still, it appears as though the great majority of students graduating from Lynn Public Schools have established some sort of post secondary plans.

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

Most Massachusetts Districts See Higher than Average Proficiency Rates in 3rd Grade Reading

The blog Eye on Early Education published this color-coded map which indicates proficiency rates on the 2011 third  grade reading MCAS exam for the individual districts in Massachusetts. The map reported that, of the 274 districts with available data, more than half  (60%) achieved a 65% or greater proficiency rate on the exam. The percentage range with the highest number of districts was 65% - 79%. More specifically:

• 15% of districts achieved a 80% - 100% proficiency rate. These districts included Wellesley, Needham, Sharon and Acton.
• 45% of districts achieved a 65% - 79% proficiency rate. Districts included Danvers, Weston, Hadley and Dartmouth.
• 28% achieved a 50% - 64% proficiency rates. Districts included Chicopee, Saugus, Taunton and Framingham.
• 12% achieved of proficiency rate of less than 50%. Districts included Lynn, Chelsea, Ludlow, and Fitchburg. All ten of the Commissioner's Urban Districts also fell into this category.

Overall, 61% of third grade students in Massachusetts were proficient  in reading according to their MCAS exam results.

The Ford School: Comparing Student Populations in 2001 to 2011

Originally founded by English settler Edmund Ingalls in 1629, Lynn has clearly undergone substantial changes in its population since then. Today more than a third of Lynn's population is Hispanic or Latino. Interestingly, some neighborhoods/communities in Lynn have seen more considerable changes in terms of their population in short periods of time than others. One indication of transformations in a specific community's population are changes in its student demographics. The Highlands in Lynn is one neighborhood that has seen an evolution in its population over the past decade as evidenced by changes in the population attending the Ford School. Here we will compare Ford's student population from 2001- 02 to 2011-12. While the actual number of students attending grades K - 5 at Ford in 2011-12 is not much different from 2001-02 (605 versus 592), the demographic composition of the school has in a number of ways.

	2001- 02	2011-12
African American	20.2%	10.5%
Asian	16.4%	9.7%
Hispanic	31.5%	67.2%
Native American	0.2%	0.5%
White	31.7%	9.0%
Multi-Racial, Non-Hispanic	N/A	3.0%
Other	N/A	0.0%

First and foremost, one notices the substantial increase in Hispanic students at Ford; between 2001-02 and 2011-12, this population grew by 113%. Additionally, the African American and Asian student populations at the Ford School have decreased over the past 10 years. The white or Caucasian population has decreased by 72% since 2001-02.

	2001- 02	2011-12
First Language Not English	36.90%	65.1%
Limited English Proficiency	1.5%	37.1%
Low Income	83.50%	90.0%
Special Education	0.0%	7.0%

As the Hispanic and other immigrant student population at the Ford School has increased, so has the percentage of English as a Second Language (ESL) and Limited English proficiency (LEP) populations. The ESL population has increased by 76% while the LEP population has increased by an astounding 2373%.  The low income population has not changed much since 2001. Interestingly, despite changes in ESL and LEP populations, the percentage of students achieving proficiency on the 3rd grade reading MCAS exam has only decreased by 13 percentage points (74% in 2001 vs. 61% in 2011). Thus, from this we see that while Ford continues to educate a majority low income population, language barriers have become a much more salient issue as the LEP and ESL population has grown exponentially. As far as demographic changes in the Highlands as a whole, this data indicates the racial/ethnic makeup of families with younger elementary school age children has changed over the past ten years from almost equal among the racial/ethnic groups to a Hispanic majority. 

*Data taken from: www.doe.mass.edu

This Day in History: March 9

-The first documented discovery of gold in California occurs at Rancho San Francisco, 6 years before the California Gold Rush, 1842

-The United States Army Air Forces begins The Bombing of Tokyo, one of the most destructive bombing raids in history, 1945

-The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair held in New York, 1959

-The first same-sez marriages take place in Washington, D.C., 2010

-Holiday: Teacher's Day, also known as Eid Al Moalim (Lebanon)

Lynn PAC Meeting 3/5/12

The Lynn Parent Advisory Council (PAC) will meet tonight March 5, 2012 at 7pm.  The meeting will be held at the Ford School, 49 Hollingsworth St. The topic for discussion is "30 Things Every Parent Should Know about their Child's IEP." Snacks, Spanish translation and child care will all be provided.

Lynn School Committee Meeting 3/8/12

The next Lynn School Committee meeting  is scheduled for Thursday March 8, 2012 at 7pm. SC meetings take place at 90 Commercial Street.

Items on the agenda for the next meeting include:

-Bullying Awareness Campaign: Alan Melanson
-Request for Executive Session - Contract Negotiations with non-union personnel: Superintendent, Deputy Superintendents and Confidential Secretaries
-Request Lynn Youth Street Outreach Program - Antonio Guttierez to speak in schools on the topic: "Going Straight" - Mr. Starbard


*To view the full agenda see: 
http://www.ci.lynn.ma.us/clerk_meeting_notices_2012/School%20Committee%20-%20Meeting-Agenda%20-%20March%208,%202012.pdf

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