2011 MCAS School and District Results Released

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education yesterday released school and district results of the 2011 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), following the release earlier this month of statewide results that showed a decline in third grade reading and a continued stagnation in this critical benchmark over the past decade. Results in other grades were mixed.

Overall 61% of third graders scored proficient or above in reading in 2011, down from 63% in 2010. The latest scores mirror the results between 2001 and 2005, when third grade reading hovered between 62% and 63% proficient or above, with a spike in 2002 at 67%.

Although the 2011 scores suggest a narrowing of the achievement gap in some grades, the gap in third grade reading widened.

Among the so-called “commissioner’s districts,” 10 urban districts with large numbers of low-income children and English language learners, performance ranged from 47% scoring proficient or above in Lynn and 45% in New Bedford to 21% in Holyoke. The rest ranged from 33-40% of third graders scoring proficient or advanced. Most of the commissioner’s districts have registered gains since 2009, but the decade-long trend line, like the state’s, remains virtually unchanged.

Research indicates that three-quarters of children who struggle with reading in third grade will continue to struggle in school, substantially decreasing the likelihood that they will graduate from high school, attend college and participate in the knowledge-based economy. Research also suggests that children who lag in reading in third grade are four times less likely to finish high school by age 19. An Act Relative to Third Grade Reading Proficiency, now pending on Beacon Hill, is designed to focus the state’s attention on this critical educational benchmark. The bill is based on recommendations contained in “Turning the Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success,” a 2010 report commissioned by Strategies for Children from Nonie Lesaux, a nationally recognized expert in literacy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

While the problem is most pronounced in the commissioner’s districts and other high-needs communities, in cities and towns across the state children struggle with reading. For instance, in a number of communities – including Ashland, Braintree, Brookline, Duxbury, Foxborough, Franklin, Holliston, Mansfield and North Attleborough, – roughly one-quarter of third graders scored below proficient in reading. In others – including Bridgewater-Raynham, Easton, Hudson, Milford, Plymouth, Sandwich, Somerset and Wakefield – roughly one-third of third graders scored below proficient.

In his news release, Governor Deval Patrick noted improvement, aggregated across the grade levels, in a number of schools. “Overall, the majority of schools statewide held their performance or improved since last year in English language arts (ELA) and Math,” the news release notes. “Statewide, 22 of the 35 underperforming (“Level 4”) schools made combined gains in ELA and Math of 5 percentage points or higher in the percent of students scoring Proficient or higher between 2010 and 2011.” In addition, 82% of schools and 91% of districts did not make adequate yearly progress, as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.