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


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• Lynn MCAS Results 2012: Part III

The Level 4 List: Henry Lord Middle School (Fall River)

The Henry Lord Middle School in Fall River, which serves grades 6 through 8, was named to the state's Level 4 school list in January 2010. Lord's student population is nearly two-thirds White; the low income population has ranged from 73.2 to 84.3% since 2007-08 while the Limited English proficiency population has ranged between 0 and 1.9%. In 2011-12, 26.4% of students spoke English as a second language and the special education population stood at 23.7% (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education).

On the 2009 MCAS exam, 45% of students overall were proficient or advanced in English Language Arts (ELA) while 32% were proficient or better in math. Two years before that the percentage of students proficient or better in math at each grade level ranged between 14 and 22%; from 1998 - 2007, 8th math proficiency rates ranged from just 1 - 14%. Before Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) was phased out  due to the No Child Left Behind waiver granted to Massachusetts in 2012, Lord had not met AYP at the subgroup level in ELA since 2004. Additionally, in 2008-09 students missed an average of 11.4 days of school and the attendance rate was 93.2%.

See here for Lord's Level 4 Redesign Plan:  http://www.fallriverschools.org/Fall%20River%20Lord%20MS%20MSV%20Report%20FINAL%202012%2003%2012.pdf

Since being designated a Level 4 school, proficiency rates on the MCAS exams at Lord improved in 2010 only to fall back to pre-Level 4 designation levels 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	45%	55%	53%	44%
Math	32%	40%	38%	29%

In 2012, the percentage of students in ELA receiving a 'Warning/Failing' grade increased 4 percentage points while the percentage of students receiving a score in this range in math decreased 5 percentage points. At the subgroup level, approximately half of all African American students failed the math MCAS exam while no students with disabilities were advanced in either math or ELA. There were also a considerable achievement gaps between low income and non-low income students on the 8th grade science/technology exam. On a positive note, Lord met its target for Hispanic/Latino students in ELA on the 2012 MCAS exam. Overall, the school was in the 18th percentile relative to schools serving common grades.


Test scores are not the only area in need of improvement at Lord. The attendance rate and average number of absences has actually worsened since 2008-09. The retention rate, however, has decreased 2.5 points over the past three years.

	08-09	09-10	10-11	11-12
Avg. # Absences	11.4	13.2	13.9	15.1
Attendance Rate	93.2%	92.3%	91.7%	91.2%

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


Citation: www.doe.mass.edu

English Language Learners in Urban Districts Struggle on ELA MCAS exam

Below are the English Language Arts (ELA) results fro English Language Learners (ELL) students on the 2012 MCAS exam for the ten urban Commissioner's districts. The districts are listed in descending order according to their Composite Performance Index (CPI). A CPI of 100 is the equivalent of all students having achieved proficiency (proficient or advanced scores) on the exam.  More specifically, each student participating in the MCAS is given a CPI score based on well they perform on the MCAS which is later averaged among the district, school or subgroup in order to determine the overall 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). Also listed is the number of ELL students included for each district's results.

Key
Adv. = Advanced (Scores 260-280)
Prof. = Proficient (Scores 240-259)
NI = Needs Improvement (Scores 220-239)
W = Warning/Failing (Scores 200-219)

	Adv.	Prof.	NI	W	CPI	# Included
Lowell	2%	27%	43%	27%	63.3	2,633
Worcester	1%	22%	43%	34%	59.3	3,343
Boston	1%	21%	46%	32%	59.1	7,721
Brockton	1%	15%	46%	38%	53.6	1,719
Lynn	0%	13%	46%	41%	52.6	1,038
Springfield	1%	14%	41%	44%	51.3	1,953
Holyoke	0%	9%	35%	56%	49.9	792
Lawrence	0%	10%	40%	49%	47.6	1,215
Fall River	0%	8%	36%	56%	43.0	309
New Bedford	0%	4%	28%	68%	37.4	202

As the table indicates, the percentage of ELL students achieving advanced scores ranged from just 0 - 2% for all 10 districts. Lowell posted the highest CPI among these districts with a score that put its students mostly in the 'Needs Improvement' range. New Bedford was on the other end of the spectrum with a little over two-thirds of its ELL students in the 'Warning/Failing' category and no ELL students achieving an advanced score.

Citation: www.doe.mass.edu