Abbot School Behind Others On MCAS, But Still Above State Average

7:51 p.m. to 9:37 p.m. (29:06 to 1:35:46)

The board moved onto an analysis of MCAS results presented by Francis.

Francis noted by stating that Massachusetts had led the nation in several national testing categories for several years, with Westford students doing significantly better than average Massachusetts students on MCAS testing.

All students are judged in relation to their peers in what is called “student growth profiles.” The only comparable sized district close to Westford in student growth profiles was Belmont according to Francis.

And while the Abbot School’s student growth profiles for English are behind the curve for other schools in town, it made tremendous progress between 2012 and 2013. The Day School slightly decreased, but was still near the district average.

The Abbot School also improved slightly in terms of math, but lagged behind other schools. Again, the Day School lagged slightly.

In terms of comparable grade levels, the Crisafulli School was ahead of the other two schools in both categories. All three schools were still above state averages.

Francis then went over a variety of strengths and weaknesses in various categories of students.

Some ideas for improvement included adding increased variety in terms of genres of literature and additional attention for special needs students, who lagged behind the general population of students.

Westford narrowly missed on the top level of the MCAS “progress and performance index” due to the Abbot and Day Schools, which were in the second highest level among five total tiers in the index.

This was caused to failures to meet targets with disabled students and high needs students at both schools, although students on average did well on this index.

District-wide, all student groups met targets in the index except for students who have learned English as a second language, or ELL (English Language Learners).

Current initiatives to raise Westford to the highest tier of the index related to English included additional phonics programs, professional development relating to writing and looking at more intervention time for upper elementary students, among other recommendations.

In Math, current initiatives include consistent practice related to number facts and problem solving, increased use of data in interventions and emphasis on  “elementary curriculum task teams” among other initiatives.

More support was urged for ELL and special needs students and it was noted that during the last year, the Crisafulli School moved from Level 2 to Level 1 on the index.

The district is still waiting for additional information on PARCC, or the Partnership of Assessment and Readiness for College and Careers, which may replace the MCAS, and Francis indicated that she and Superintent Bill Olsen will provide additional information on PARCC as it becomes available.

Keele asked Francis about other School Committees that she had served and she agreed on Keele’s assessment that other districts would be thrilled at these numbers.

Keele also noted that anyone concerned that the Day and Abbot Schools look at Stony Brook and Blanchard numbers, which are very good and contain former Day and Abbot students.

School Committee member Erica Kohl was thrilled with the amount of information provided and asked a question on the additional amount of students at the Abbot School and asked if the feeder schools to the Day and Abbot Schools played a role in the test scores, adding Keele’s note on how scores are fine in higher level schools.

Kohl also asked Francis to keep an eye on writing scores.

School Committee member Terence Ryan asked for some specific ways to get Westford to Tier One, which Francis provided, and Benoit asked if there were any comparisons between specific comparable positions at various schools.

Francis said this did occur, but it can be a challenge, although she said more time was given for elementary and upper elementary teachers to share best practices.

Murray asked the student representatives on their views on the MCAS. They said there were many drills, but it was not particularly significant at second grade, and that more early preparation would help with scores.

While Murray said that the district’s focus should not be on tests, she appreciated the input on elementary test taking.

Benoit asked the students on how MCAS compared to SATs, with the students saying that their peers were far more concerned with PSATs and SATs than MCAS tests, that after years of preparation, the focus went away from MCAS preparation.