A Look at Worcester's Special Education Population

In the Worcester public school system, special education students currently make up 20.7% of the student population; WPS has an enrollment of 24,808 with 5,142 students identified as 'special education.' This is a close look at Worcester's special education population.

Demographics

Below is how the special ed population breaks down in terms of demographics.

Asian	2.8%
Black/African American	12.3%
Hispanic	47.5%
Multiracial	3.7%
Native American	0.4%
White	33.4%

Female	35.9%
Male	64.1%

Low Income	78%
Limited English Proficiency	27.7%
First Lang. Not English	37.2%

The disabilities with the highest student counts in Worcester are:

• Specific Learning Disability (1,700)
• Intellectual Disability (753)
• Emotional (721)
• Communication (594)

The age with the highest student count is 16 (414 students) followed by 11 (402).

MCAS

Similar to Lynn, special ed students in Worcester were among the subgroups not making Adequate Yearly Progress at all grade levels in 2011. In 2011, students with disabilities had a 14% proficiency rate in English language arts  (ELA) exam and a 9% proficiency rate in math. The Composite Performance Indices (CPI) for special education students has decreased 1.1 points in ELA and  increased 1.5 points in math since 2008. CPIs are a measure of the extent to which students are progressing toward proficiency in ELA and math; the goal is a CPI of 100.  More specifically, each student participating in the MCAS is given a score based on well they perform on the exam which is later averaged to determine the school or subgroup's CPI; possible scores are 0 (Warning/Failing - Low), 25 (Warning/Failing - High), 50 (Needs Improvement - Low), 75 (Needs Improvement - High), and 100 (Proficient or Advanced). In 2011, the ELA CPI for students with disabilities was 53.9 while the math CPI was 44.9.

Educational Outcomes

In terms of educational outcomes, special education students in Worcester tend to graduate at a lower rate than 'general education' students. This is much in line with state trends as well as the trend seen in Lynn. See below for the graduation rates from 2006 - 2010.

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Special Ed	44.2%	51.3%	54.4%	49.1%	56.4%
General Ed	73.8%	74.6%	73.3%	76.8%	76.7%
All Students	67.2%	69.8%	69.2%	70.1%	71.4%

The graduation rate for this population decreased to 52.3% in 2011 for Worcester as a district.  Individual secondary schools in Worcester did vary in their graduation rates. At North High School, 35.1% of special education students graduated compared to a 55.1% graduation rate overall. Worcester Technical High School, on the other hand, had a 86.3% graduation rate in 2011 for special ed students with only 2.7% of this population dropping out over the four year period. Approximately, 20% of special education students required more than four years to complete high school.

Special ed students also tend to dropout at a higher rate than the general ed population. Below is the annual dropout rate for the years 2006 - 2010.

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Special Ed	6.0%	9.8%	7.9%	7.1%	6.7%
General Ed	3.8%	5.1%	4.0%	4.6%	3.0%
All Students	4.2%	6.0%	4.7%	5.1%	3.8%

The four year dropout rate for special ed students was 19.1% in 2011, down 5.7 percentage points from 2009. At the state level, special ed students had a 13.2% four year dropout rate.

In 2009-10, a little more than half of the special ed students were going to attend a college or university with 78% of this group attending a Massachusetts community college. Seventy-five special ed students were reported to have taken the SAT in 2009-10 with average scores of 347 in Reading, 342 in Writing, and 338 in Math (out of a possible 800 for each). In terms of Advanced Placement participation, six special education students took 11 AP exams in 2009-10 with the highest number of students taking the AP English Language Arts exam, followed by AP U.S. History. Of the 11 tests taken, 27.3% received a score between 3 and 5 (on a 5-point scale). 


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

This Day in History: May 16

-President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate, 1868

 -In Hollywood, CA, the first Academy Awards are given out, 1929

-The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends, 1943

-The Communist Party of China issues the "May 16 Notice," marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, 1966

-Sammy Davis, Jr. dies, 1990

-Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote, 2005

-Holidays: Teacher's Day (Malaysia); National Day (Southern Sudan); Mass Graves Day (Iraq)

A Look at Lynn's Special Education Population

In Lynn public school system, special education students currently make up 16.5% of the student population. One hundred percent of Washington's student population is special ed while other schools vary in their percentages of this select population. This is a close look at Lynn's special education population.

Demographics

Below is how the special ed population breaks down in terms of demographics.

Asian	4.8%
Black/African American	15.8%
Hispanic	48.2%
Multiracial	4.4%
Native American	0.3%
White	26.5%

Female	33.5%
Male	66.5%

Low Income	84.1%
Limited English Proficiency	11.9%
First Lang. Not English	44.3%

The disabilities with the highest student counts in Lynn are:

• Specific Learning Disability (644)
• Intellectual Disability (412)
• Developmental Delay (330)
• Emotional (326)

The age with the highest student count is 13 (212 students) followed by 14 (202), 12 (197), and 11 (186).

MCAS

Special ed students were among the subgroups not making Adequate Yearly Progress at all grade levels in 2011. Students with disabilities had a 12% proficiency rate on the 2011 English language arts  (ELA) exam and a 9% proficiency rate on the math exam. Proficiency rates do vary for this group at individual schools. At Shoemaker, for example, students with disabilities had a 17% proficiency rate in ELA and a 22% proficiency rate in math; at Classical just 12% of students with disabilities received a 'Warning/Failing' grade on the ELA exam. The Composite Performance Indices (CPI) for special education students has increased 2 points in ELA and 1.5 points in math since 2009. CPIs are a measure of the extent to which students are progressing toward proficiency in ELA and math; the goal is a CPI of 100.  More specifically, each student participating in the MCAS is given a score based on well they perform on the exam which is later averaged to determine the school or subgroup's CPI; possible scores are 0 (Warning/Failing - Low), 25 (Warning/Failing - High), 50 (Needs Improvement - Low), 75 (Needs Improvement - High), and 100 (Proficient or Advanced). In 2011, the ELA CPI for students with disabilities was 60.8 while the math CPI was 51.6.

Educational Outcomes

In terms of educational outcomes, special education students in Lynn tend to graduate at a lower rate than 'general education' students. This is much in line with state trends. See below for the graduation rates from 2006 - 2010.

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Special Ed	40.2%	41.8%	44.1%	47.3%	44.0%
General Ed	69.7%	74.2%	75.6%	75.5%	74.3%
All Students	64.4%	68.5%	70.5%	70.7%	68.5%

The graduation rate for this population increased slightly to 48.1% in 2011 for Lynn as a district. Lynn has four secondary schools - Lynn English, Lynn Classical, Lynn Tech and Fecteau-Leary. At Lynn English, 56.6% of special education students graduated in four years or less; this figure was 59.1% at Lynn Classical, 45.3% at Lynn Tech and 19% at Fecteau-Leary.

Special ed students also tend to dropout at a higher rate than the general ed population. Below is the annual dropout rate for the years 2006 - 2010.

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Special Ed	11.4%	10.1%	11.1%	12.7%	10.9%
General Ed	4.3%	4.6%	4.9%	4.2%	4.4%
All Students	5.3%	5.4%	5.8%	5.4%	5.4%

The four year dropout rate for special ed students was 24.8% in 2011, down from 31.9%  in 2010. At the state level, special ed students had a 13.2% four year dropout rate.

In 2009-10, a little less than half of the special ed students were going to attend a college or university with 70.2% of this group attending a Massachusetts community college. Nineteen special ed students were reported to have taken the SAT in 2009-10 with average scores of 312 in Reading,  285 in Writing, and  331 in Math. In terms of Advanced Placement participation and performance, there was no data reported for special education students in 2009-10.


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

Massachusetts' Gateway Cities Education Agenda

Part of Governor Deval Patrick's second term education agenda includes focusing more resources on Gateway Cities in an effort to close the achievement gap among students. The 24 Gateway Cities are:

• Barnstable
• Brockton
• Chelsea
• Chicopee
• Everett
• Fall River 
• Fitchburg
• Haverhill
• Holyoke
• Lawrence
• Leominster
• Lowell
• Lynn
• Malden
• Methuen
• New Bedford
• Pittsfield
• Quincy
• Revere
• Salem
• Springfield
• Taunton
• Westfield
• Worcester

Massachusetts' Gateway Cities are home to many of the state's immigrant, low income and English Language Learner students. Pittsfield, for example, is 55.2% low income while Revere is 48.1% First Language not English. Thus, the state's education agenda will focus on these cities where achievement gaps are most persistent. The education strategy will focus on four main goals:

1. Getting every child to read proficiency by the third grade
2. Providing every child with a healthy platform for education
3. Creating a differentiated education system that meets each student, particularly English Language Learners, where they are
4. Preparing all students for college and career success 

The Gateway Cities education agenda serves as part of Governor Patrick's Achievement Gap Act of 2010.

Math Test Scores a Concern for Springfield Public School System

While all of Massachusetts' ten urban districts seem to be grappling to varying degrees with sub par mathematics test scores, this subject area is a particular concern for the Springfield Public School System.

	2008	2009	2010	2011
3	43	38	41	46
4	31	27	26	25
5	28	30	26	32
6	19	21	19	22
7	12	16	18	14
8	13	11	16	16
10	37	36	37	41
ALL	26	26	27	28

In 2011, just 28% of students were proficient in math, a one point increase over the previous year. In terms of individual grade levels, 4th grade math proficiency rates have been declining since 2008 while 8th grade math proficiency rates have ranged from 8 - 16% over the last decade (2001 - 2011). Furthermore, there is an achievement gap in Springfield between certain related subgroups. For example, in 2011 Asian students had a 61% proficiency rate in math while Hispanic (22%), African American (26%) and white (44%) students posted much lower rates. Other achievement gaps existed between low income and non low income students (25% versus 44%) and Title I and non Title I students (28% vs. 2%); males and females both had a 28% proficiency rate in math. On a positive note, the percentage of students falling into the 'Warning/Failing' category has declined from 43% in 2008 to 38% in 2011. Because of the statistics regarding math achievement, one of Springfield's many district Strategic Priorities is to increase proficiency in mathematics in addition to other important subject areas.

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

Lynn School Committee Meeting: 5/10/12

The next Lynn School Committee meeting  is scheduled for Thursday May 10, 2012 at 7pm (*open mike begins at 6:45pm). SC meetings take place at 90 Commercial Street.

Items on the agenda include:

-Presentation - Ingalls Fourth Grader Kenyan Zape placed third out of 900 in poetry contest sponsored by Boston College's Dr. George Ladd and his research assistants

-New Business - School Committee Goals (Mrs. Capano)

-Northshore Education Consortium (NEC) - Board Member Appointments 2012 - 13

-Executive Session - Contracts

• Superintendent
• Deputy Superintendents
• Nurses Contract - for ratification
• Therapists Contract - for ratification

*To View the Full Agenda, See: http://www.ci.lynn.ma.us/clerk_meeting_notices_2012/School%20Committee%20-%20Meeting-Agenda%20-%20May10,%202012.pdf

KIPP Lynn Sees More Demand for High School than Spots Available

Per KIPP Lynn officials, 98 students entered the 9th grade lottery for school year 2012-13 while 29 entered for admission to the 10th grade. The school expects to enroll approximately 20 new students to its 9th grade  class as it is believed that about 70 (of the 95) 8th grade students currently at KIPP will continue onto the high school level; next year's 9th grade class will consist of 90 students total. Students entering the 10th grade lottery will remain on a wait list and will be accepted only if a student leaves the school or is retained in the 9th grade. KIPP will move to its new location in the Highlands in the fall of 2012.