Published October 30, 2019
WAKEFIELD — School administrators presented an overview of the spring’s MCAS test results to the School Committee last night, and there are several areas where students’ progress is clear.
Led by Assistant Superintendent Kara Mauro, the administrative team said kids are meeting and/or exceeding state averages in many areas throughout the school district. In addition, high schoolers have exceeded targets set for achievement and growth in science, and all 10th graders taking the legacy MCAS exams improved their accountability scores in every academic area.
At the Galvin, the so-called “high needs” group improved from the previous year at all grade levels and student growth percentages improved 10 or more points in math and English Language Arts for the students who moved from grade 6 to 7.
At the Greenwood School, all students either met or exceeded their accountability targets in a category measuring growth. Also the math achievement scores in grade 4 at the Greenwood increased by 25 percent and student growth percentages in grade 4 went up 6.6 percent.
At the Dolbeare, overall math achievement was up 7 percent.
At the Walton, kids scored above the state average on 87.5 percent of the items on the math test.
And at the Woodville, students who are now fifth graders have improved each year they took the Next General MCAS tests for English Language Arts and Math.
Mauro was quick to point out at the beginning of the presentation that MCAS scores make up only part of the data educators use to gauge academic improvement and to guide the course of instruction. The tests are not the be all and end all of a child’s education, but students do need to pass the tests as high schoolers in order to graduate.
According to data provided during last night’s presentation, Wakefield had 84 percent of its 10th graders showing proficiency or better on the science, technology and engineering areas of the test, taken last spring. That is well above the state average, and among Middlesex League communities, Wakefield’s score ties that of Reading and is better than Woburn, Watertown, Stoneham and Burlington. Lexington’s 97 percent in that category leads the way.
About 55 percent of kids in grades 3-8 met and/or exceeding MCAS standards in the English Language Arts, while 70 percent of 10th graders did so.
According to the data, 68 percent of 10th graders met or exceeded MCAS math standards.
