MCAS/Accountability Results for 2013

Last Monday night our new Director of Curriculum Maureen Cohen and I delivered the annual presentation on the latest round of MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) tests and each school's accountability rating to the Regional School Committee.  Here is the "10,000 foot view" in a screencast below:


Not to digress, but I hope you like the format of the "screencast," which was created completely on an iPad using the app Explain Everything.  It really is a nice way to add video, audio, and even animation to something like a PowerPoint presentation.

I would characterize this year's MCAS results as positive, but also mixed.  I am pleased that our overall proficiency levels in English language arts and mathematics continue to rise, as there was a 3% and 5% increase, respectively, in those tests across all grade levels within the district.  While our aggregate scores are showing incremental progress, we must do more to address the learning of our students with the greatest needs.

Under the state's accountability system, schools and districts must not only increase the scores (and meet established performance targets) of all students, but also those of significant "subgroups," e.g., various racial groups, students with disabilities, students from poverty, English language learners (ELLs), etc.   As the MURSD has a relatively small amount of students in these subgroups, the State Department of Education mixes the special education, high poverty, and ELL students into a larger subgroup known as "high needs."  It is in this subgroup where our district must focus greater attention, as across the various grade levels, we are not meeting the targets.

Below in this post you can access the PowerPoint that was delivered to the Regional School Committee on Monday.  It contains the district data for every grade level and every MCAS test.  Or if you would like to see the data broken down by each school, please visit our District Dashboard, which has been updated to reflect the 2013 State Assessments.