MA DESE DART Analysis Tool: Comparing Schools & Districts

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has added a new information tool to the district and school level data available on their website under DART (District Analysis and Review Tool) - Analysis. This tab allows one to view districts or schools most comparable to his or her child(ren)'s own based on the district or school's grade span, total enrollment and special populations. According to the DESE, the school districts most comparable to Lynn are: 

• Boston
• Chicopee
• Everett
• Fall River
• Lawrence
• Lowell
• Malden
• Revere
• Springfield 
• Worcester

A school district like Swampscott, on the other hand, is most similar to districts such as Ashland, Bedford, Dracut, and Seekonk.

The analysis tool also allows you to see the district's as well as the comparable districts' total enrollments and low income, special education and English Language Learner populations. MCAS proficiency rates and growth scores for these districts are provided as well. See here for an example: http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/analysis/default.aspx?orgcode=01630000&orgtypecode=5&

The tool provides even more detail as it allows you to look at comparisons for individual schools based on the same criteria (total enrollment, special population, grade span). It is interesting to note that within districts, schools that cover the same grade spans will have different comparable schools based on their specific populations. For example, some of Marshall's (Lynn) comparable schools are Roosevelt Middle School (New Bedford), Sullivan Middle School (Worcester) and Breed Middle School (also Lynn) while Pickering's most comparable schools include John T Reid Middle School (Pittsfield), Gardner Middle School (Gardner) and Mary E Wells Jr. High (Southbridge).  Further a school like Sisson had comparable schools in towns like Attleboro, Dennis-Yarmouth and Weymouth while Ford had comparables in cities such as Brockton, Chelsea and Lawrence. 

To view comparables for your school or district, see:  http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/

Lynn Middle Schools Struggle with Math MCAS Scores

Below is an overview of the 2012 math MCAS results for students at the middle school level in the city of Lynn. This year all four middle schools declined to varying degrees in their math proficiency rates with decreases ranging from 2 to17 percentage points.
 

	Adv.	Prof.	NI	W	CPI*	# Included
Breed	8	26	35	32	62.8	1,182
KIPP Lynn	8	31	46	15	71.3	368
Marshall	2	16	37	45	54.7	880
Pickering	12	32	33	22	72.2	622

*CPIs are a measure of the extent to which students are progressing toward 100% proficiency in ELA or math; the goal is a CPI of 100 which is the equivalent of all students having achieved proficiency on the exam. More specifically, each student participating in the MCAS is given a score based on well they perform on the MCAS which is later averaged among the district, school or subgroup to determine the 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).

Below this information is further sorted by grade level.

MASSACHUSETTS
 

	Adv.	Prof.	NI	W	CPI
5	25	32	26	17	78.4
6	27	33	24	16	80.5
7	20	31	30	18	75.4
8	22	30	28	19	75.5

LYNN (DISTRICT)

	Adv.	Prof.	NI	W	CPI
5	15	28	33	26	71.8
6	9	30	34	26	70.2
7	5	16	38	40	55.6
8	6	22	30	42	57.4

5th GRADE

	Adv.	Prof.	NI	W	CPI	# Included
KIPP Lynn	4	27	52	17	68.0	100

Statewide, 57% of 5th grade students were 'Proficient' or 'Advanced' math compared to 31% at KIPP. At the subgroup level at KIPP, results were varied with 53% of Non-Low Income students proficient or better compared to 27% of Low Income students. Additionally, females had a slightly higher percentage of 'Advanced' math students that males, though overall the breakdown was comparable. The percentage of students proficient or better decreased 2 percentage points from the previous year.

6th GRADE

	Adv.	Prof.	NI	W	CPI	# Included
Breed	12	37	32	20	74.3	410
KIPP Lynn	5	43	33	49	69.6	98
Marshall	4	23	40	32	65.5	281
Pickering	11	33	36	20	73.3	205

On the 6th grade math exam, 60% of students in Massachusetts were 'Proficient' or 'Advanced' compared to 49% at Breed, 48% at KIPP, 27% at Marshall and 44% at Pickering. Three of the four middle schools exceeded the city average of 39% proficiency. Pickering and KIPP were similar in terms of their CPI at this level while there was nearly a 10-point difference between these schools and the lowest performing middle school (Marshall). The CPI on the 6th grade math exam at the state level was 80.5 in 2012.

7th GRADE

	Adv.	Prof.	NI	W	CPI	# Included
Breed	6	15	40	39	55.9	352
KIPP Lynn	16	32	42	10	77.5	91
Marshall	1	10	39	50	49.1	307
Pickering	10	30	37	23	69.2	214

At the state level, 51% of 7th grade students were 'Proficient' or 'Advanced' in math. None of the middle schools exceeded the state average though KIPP was 3 percentage points away from this figure. The difference in proficiency between Low Income and Non-Low Income students at Breed was 2 percentage points (30% vs. 32%) while the difference at Pickering was 31 percentage points (26% vs. 57%). Here we see also considerable differences between the percentage of 'Advanced' students at each school with Marshall posting the lowest number. Additionally, Marshall saw 50% of its 7th grade students in the 'Warning/Failure' category.

8th GRADE

	Adv.	Prof.	NI	W	CPI	# Included
Breed	5	24	33	39	57.3	420
KIPP Lynn	5	32	49	14	70.3	79
Marshall	2	13	31	53	50.3	292
Pickering	15	34	28	23	74.4	203

Statewide, 52% of 8th grade students were 'Proficient' or 'Advanced;' citywide 28% of 8th grade students (excluding those at KIPP) were 'Proficient' or 'Advanced.' At Marshall, Hispanic/Latino students, which made up 60% of the 8th grade class in 2012, had a 12% proficiency rate with 56% of these students falling into the 'Warning/Failing' category. Pickering missed the state average by 3 percentage points and exceeded the city average by 21 points. The percentage of 'Advanced' math students at KIPP declined 24 percentage point from 2011 while the percentage of 'Advanced' 8th grade students at Pickering and Marshall declined 2 percentage and at Breed by 5 percentage points.


Citation: www.doe.mass.edu


You may also be interested in:

• Lynn MCAS Results 2012: Part III

The Level 4 List: Jeremiah E Burke and The English High Schools (Boston)

JEREMIAH E BURKE

The Jeremiah E Burke High School in Boston, which serves approximately 635 students in grades 9 through 12, was named to the state's Level 4 school list in January 2010. Burke's student population is nearly two-thirds African American/Black; the low income population has ranged from 63.3 to 76% since 2007-08 while the Limited English proficiency population is about a quarter of the population. In 2011-12, 38.7% of students spoke English as a second language and 20.4% were special education students (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education).

On the 2009 MCAS exam, 31% of 10th students overall were proficient or advanced in English Language Arts (ELA) and 41% were proficient or better in math. At the subgroup level that year, 55% of Hispanic/Latino students were proficient in ELA while just 24% of African American/Black students were proficient. Additionally, before Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) was phased out  due to the No Child Left Behind waiver granted to Massachusetts in 2012, Burke had not met AYP at the subgroup level in ELA from 2006 through 2011 and in math from 2007 through 2011. In 2008-09 students missed an average of 22.7 days of school and the attendance rate was 83.8%. The dropout rate that year was 21.1% and had been above 10% every year since 2002-03.

Since being designated a Level 4 school, proficiency rates on the MCAS exams at Burke have improved in both ELA and math. Below are the percentage of students who were proficient or better on each section of the exam from 2009 - 2012.

	2009	2010	2011	2012
ELA	31%	29%	41%	50%
Math	41%	28%	39%	50%

In 2012, the percentage of students in ELA receiving a 'Warning/Failing' grade decreased 11 percentage points while the percentage of students receiving a score in this range in math decreased 8 percentage points. Further:

• The percentage of students 'Advanced' in ELA increased 4 percentage points from 1% in 2011 to 5% in 2012.
• The percentage of students with an 'Advanced' score in math doubled from the previous year.
• Just 2% of male students received a 'Warning/Failing' score in ELA
• No student with a disability received a 'Warning/Failing' score in ELA with 90% scoring in the 'Needs Improvement' range
• The percentage of Low Income students proficient or better in math increased 14 points from 2011 to 2012

In terms of its Cumulative Progress and Performance Index (CPPI), Burke met its state-mandated goals at the aggregate level and for the African American/Black subgroup this year but missed other targets including that for Low Income students and High Needs students. In regard to the CPI, which is a score given to assess a subgroup, school or district's progress toward 100% proficiency, Burke had an overall score of 80.4 in ELA and 76.1 in math both of which were above the target range for the school; scores range from 0 - 100 with 100 denoting that all students are proficient.

The attendance and dropout rates at Burke have improved over the last few years (data for 2011-12 is not yet available). Out of school suspensions were down 5.3 points in 2011-12 from 2010-11 to 0.9%.

	08-09	09-10	10-11	11-12
Dropout Rate	13.9%	14.5%	12.6%	N/A
Attendance Rate	84.1%	86.9%	88.2%	91.1%

In 2012, the school was in the 5th percentile relative to schools serving common grades.



THE ENGLISH HIGH

The English High School in Boston, which serves approximately 750 students also in grades 9 through 12, was named to the state's Level 4 school list in 2010 along with Burke. English's student population is just over half Hispanic/Latino and a third African American/Black; the low income population has been about three-quarters of the population since 2005-06 while the Limited English proficiency population has ranged between 22.7 and 38.1%. In 2011-12, 50% of students spoke English as a second language and 23.5% were special education students (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education).

On the 2009 MCAS exam, 40% of students overall were proficient or advanced in English Language Arts (ELA) while 38% were proficient or better in math. That year only 1% of the population was 'Advanced' in ELA; from 2004 through 2009, the percentage of students 'Advanced' in ELA ranged from 0 - 1%. Before Adequate Yearly Progress was phased out, English had not made AYP at the subgroup levels in ELA and math from 2004 to 2011. Additionally, in 2008-09 students missed an average of 17.6 days of school and the attendance rate was 87.7%. The dropout rate that year was 5.4%.

Since being designated a Level 4 school, proficiency rates on the MCAS exams at English improved from 2010 to 2011 only to decline in 2012. Below are the percentage of students who were proficient or better on each section of the exam from 2009 - 2012.

	2009	2010	2011	2012
ELA	40%	40%	45%	39%
Math	38%	38%	45%	31%

In 2012, the percentage of students in ELA receiving a 'Warning/Failing' grade decreased 4 percentage points while the percentage of students receiving a score in this range in math also increased 12 percentage points from 2011. Further:

• In 2012, the percentage of students 'Advanced' in ELA declined 5 percentage from 2011 to 0% of the overall population while the percentage of students 'Advanced' in math decreased by half to 9% of the population.
• The percentage of students 'Proficient' in math has increased 6 percentage points from 2009.
• Males and females were evenly matched in the percentage falling into 'Warning/Failing' category in math (39% vs. 38%).
• The percentage of students in 2008 who were 'Advanced' or 'Proficient' in science was 3%; this number was 23% in 2012. 
• The graduation rate in 2011 was 50.3% compared to 64.4% for the Boston Public School district as a whole.

In terms of its Cumulative Progress and Performance Index (CPPI), English met its goal at the African American subgroup level but did not meet any of the other targets this year. In regard to the CPI, English has an overall score of 77.1 in ELA and 62.8 in math.

The dropout rate has remained nearly the same while the attendance rate has decreased since 2008-09.

	08-09	09-10	10-11	11-12
Dropout Rate	5.4%	5.5%	5.7%	N/A
Attendance Rate	87.7%	86.8%	87.6%	83.4%

In 2012, the school was in the 5th percentile relative to schools serving common grades.

If both schools meet all of the requirements, Burke and English could exit Level 4 status at the end of the 2012-13 school year.


Citation: www.doe.mass.edu 


You may also be interested in:

• The Level 4 List: Charlotte M. Murkland Elementary School (Lowell) 
• The Level 4 List: Henry Lord Middle School (Fall River) 
• The Level 4 List: EJ Harrington and Wm Connery Elementary Schools (Lynn)