MCAS test results show major improvement in English language arts

Sep 27, 2018

Dartmouth students are reading and writing ahead of their peers, according to newly released state testing results.

According to the results of the state MCAS test, released on September 26, students at all grade levels except the third grade are doing far better than their peers across the state in English language arts, and improved their results from last year.

“I think overall we’re very, very happy,” said Dartmouth Public Schools Director of Teaching and Learning Tracy Oliveira. “We’re very excited to see some of the growth we’ve seen in some of the scores with the initiatives we’ve put in place.”

Oliveira and Assistant Superintendent Michelle Roy credited the strong scores with a new reading and writing workshop model introduced to the district. It’s been in the works for about five years, and began in the kindergarten level.

“We really give the kids time to be reading, writing, they’re given voice and choice of what they want to read and write about, and provide feedback on what they’re doing,” Oliveira said. “It’s more individual with student voice and choice in it.”

Teachers also received more professional development to make the shift, and students also began reading and writing digitally on computer platforms.

“The whole shift to the reading and writing workshop was about stamina, to get them reading and writing a lot more,” Oliveira said.

It is the second year of students in grades three through eight taking the “next generation” MCAS test. The next generation test includes four grading categories -- exceeding expectations, meeting expectations, partially meeting expectations, and not meeting expectations.

The improved results, measured by the percentage of students scoring a meeting expectations or better, is most pronounced at Dartmouth Middle School. Students placing in these categories were more than 10 percent above the state average in each grade level.

At elementary schools, only the third grade was below the state average and reported a negative change in results compared to last year.

Next-Generation Mathematics

In mathematics, scores in most grade levels were the same or went down slightly from last year. The percentage of Dartmouth students in the top two categories was below the state average in the third and fourth grade, but above the state average in the fifth through eighth grade.

Compared to last year’s district results, the third and fourth grades fell by eight and six percentage points, respectively, while the sixth grade went down one percentage point. Other grades improved results from last year, with the biggest gain of 11 percentage points in the seventh grade.

“I would say it was pretty sustained,” Roy said. “There were a few that went up and a few that went down.”

“There weren’t any major slips, just some adjustments,” Oliveria added. “We’ll keep an eye on it. We have a good trajectory and a good plan where we’re going.”

“Legacy” MCAS tests

The tenth grade at the high school still took the old “legacy” paper MCAS test. Those results have school officials satisfied as well.

Under the legacy system, students can score advanced, proficient, needs improvement, or warning/failing. The percentage of students achieving a proficient or higher was 96 percent for English language arts, 86 percent in mathematics, and 85 percent in science and technology/engineering. All are above the state average.

"English is pretty much topping off there at the top," Roy noted. “We still want to see growth in our students, even though we’re performing at high levels.”

The fifth and eighth grade class also took the science and technology test in the "legacy" paper format. The percentage of students in the proficient or higher categories was above the state average.

New accountability system

The new next-generation MCAS test also brings with it a new accountability system for schools, with new formulas using varying percentages of growth, achievement, and other data to calculate how schools are improving.

Each school is given its own targets for improvement, and judged overall if targets are met for both all students, and the lowest performing students.

The district was rated as meeting its targets, while all schools except Potter Elementary were rated as partially meeting targets. Potter was meeting its targets.