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: Charlotte M. Murkland Elementary (Lowell, MA)

The Charlotte M. Murkland Elementary School in Lowell, which serves grades Pre-K through 4th grade, was named to the state's Level 4 school list in January 2010. Murkland's student population is a little over half Asian and a third Hispanic; the low income population has ranged from 80 to 86.5% since 2007-08 while the Limited English proficiency population has ranged between 36.5 and 44.4%. In 2011-12, 60.9% of students spoke English as a second language (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education).

On the 2009 MCAS exam, just 15% of students overall were proficient or advanced in English Language Arts (ELA) while a quarter were proficient or better in math. The year before that over half of the 4th grade students received a 'Warning/Failing' score on the ELA exam. Additionally, in 2008-09 students missed an average of 11.8 days of school and the attendance rate was just under 93%.

Since being designated a Level 4 school, proficiency rates on the MCAS exams have improved at Murkland. 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	15%	16%	29%	34%
Math	24%	28%	48%	41%

It should be noted that the percentage of students who received a 'Warning/Failing' score has decreased as well. In 2008, 46% of students failed the ELA exam while 33% of students failed math; in 2012, 18% of students failed ELA while 12% failed math. Alternatively, the percentage of students achieving an advanced mark in ELA increased 4 points while the percentage of advanced math scores increased 11 points. In terms of growth, all subgroups improved above target in both math and ELA. Murkland was also in the 76th percentile in math for Hispanic/Latino students and the 70th percentile for low income students in this grade span. There is still much room for improvement, however, as there were no students with disabilities who were either proficient or advanced in ELA in 2012; males also lagged behind females in both subject areas.  Most importantly, two-thirds of students were not proficient in ELA in 2012 and over half not proficient in math. Overall, the school was in the 23rd percentile relative to schools serving a common grade and if it were not for the Level 4 designation, would qualify this year for Level 1 status.


Test scores are not the only area of improvement. The attendance rate and average number of absences has also improved.

	08-09	09-10	10-11	11-12
Avg. # Absences	11.8	11	14.9	9.4
Attendance Rate	92.9%	93.4%	91.0%	94.4%

If the school meets all of the requirements, Murkland can exit Level 4 status at the end of the 2012 - 13 school year.


Citation: www.doe.mass.edu

Revere MCAS Results 2012

Below are Revere's proficiency rates (advanced and proficient scores combined) on the 2012 MCAS  for the district as a whole and then by school. All proficiency rates are in percentages; positive or negative numbers in parentheses in the  grade level or 'ALL' fields represent the percent change from 2011. Also included is each school's Accountability and Assistance Level. Accountability levels are as follows:

• Level 1:  On track to college and career readiness
• Level 2:  Not meeting gap closing goals
• Level 3:  Focus: Lowest performing 20% of schools (including schools with the largest gaps)
• Level 4:  Priority: Lowest performing schools
• Level 5:  Priority: Chronically under-performing schools

'School Performance' refers to the school's overall performance relative to other schools statewide that serve the same grade span (percentiles range from 1 - 99). For example, a school performance that is greater than 75% of schools serving common grades statewide is at the 75th percentile.

In terms of demographics, Revere was 11% Limited English Proficiency, 48.4% First Language not English, 74.9% Low Income and 16% Special Education in 2011-12. There were 6,519 students in RPS during the last school year.

REVERE (DISTRICT)

	ELA	Math
3	52 (+1)	54 (-8)
4	47 (-4)	39 (-2)
5	54 (-7)	50 (-4)
6	56 (-2)	49 (-2)
7	66 (-4)	42 (-2)
8	81 (-1)	48 (+5)
10	84 (+9)	75 (+9)
All	62 (-1)	50 (-1)

BY SCHOOL

A.C. WHELAN

	ELA	Math
3	66	74
4	50	47
5	72	69
All	62 (-6)	63 (+5)

• Accountability and Assistance Level: Level 1
• School Performance: 60th Percentile

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

	ELA	Math
3	43	38
4	45	16
5	46	25
All	44 (-22)	27 (-18)

• Accountability and Assistance Level: Level 3
• School Performance: 13th Percentile
  

BEACHMONT VETERANS MEMORIAL

	ELA	Math
3	60	71
4	33	33
5	76	78
All	53 (+5)	58 (-4)

• Accountability and Assistance Level: Level 2
• School Performance: 47th Percentile

GARFIELD

	ELA	Math
3	46	44
4	43	43
5	50	39
All	47 (-2)	42 (-3)

• Accountability and Assistance Level: Level 3
• School Performance: 20th Percentile

PAUL REVERE (INNOVATION SCHOOL)

	ELA	Math
3	52	50
4	68	57
5	57	50
All	58 (-1)	51 (-12)

• Accountability and Assistance Level: Level 2
• School Performance: 47th Percentile

WILLIAM MCKINLEY

	ELA	Math
3	54	53
4	55	47
5	38	57
All	48 (+7)	53 (+2)

• Accountability and Assistance Level: Level 2
• School Performance: 21st Percentile

GARFIELD MIDDLE

	ELA	Math
6	69	54
7	63	37
8	87	46
All	72 (+4)	45 (+2)

• Accountability and Assistance Level: Level 2
• School Performance: 31st Percentile

RUMNEY MARSH

	ELA	Math
6	57	50
7	74	56
8	82	56
All	71 (-4)	54 (+1)

• Accountability and Assistance Level: Level 1
• School Performance: 31st Percentile

SUSAN B. ANTHONY

	ELA	Math
6	43	46
7	60	36
8	83	47
All	61 (-6)	42 (-6)

• Accountability and Assistance Level: Level 2
• School Performance: 31st Percentile

REVERE HIGH

	ELA	Math
10	86 (+10)	78 (+10)

• Accountability and Assistance Level: Level 3
• School Performance: 18th Percentile

SEACOAST SCHOOL

	ELA	Math
10	78 (+8)	58 (+8)

• Insufficient Data for Accountability and Assistance Level or School Performance

You may also be interested in

• Salem MCAS Results 2012 
• Lynn MCAS Results 2012: Part I

Citation: www.doe.mass.edu