Mt. Greylock Fails Math; State Demands 'Corrective Action'
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For the fourth consecutive year, the school has failed the Adequate Yearly Progress standards— a measurement used in the federal No Child Left Behind Act — because of performance in mathematics. The school has fallen into the "corrective action" category, meaning the state will be keeping a close eye on its progress and officials must take actions to stop the trend.
"We obviously have targeted areas that we need to look at," Principal Tim Payne said on Tuesday. "My priority is mathematics. It's the one that is in corrective action."
The performance is measured by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests that students take in Grades 7, 8 and 10. The AYP uses the scores, performance, the school's improvement and level of participation to determine pass or fail. A school must meet expectations in three of the four categories. In math, the school has neither improved enough nor has it performed well enough to make the grade.
Of seventh-graders, 72 percent were proficient or advanced, 15 percent need improvement and 12 percent is failing. In eighth grade, 52 percent are proficient or advanced, 32 percent need improvement and 16 percent are failing. In 10th grade, 71 percent were proficient or advanced, 22 percent need improvement and 7 percent are failing. The full report is available below.
"There is a dip in eighth grade," Payne said. "The math picture improves in the 10th grade."
A more revealing statistics, according to School Committee member Heather Williams, is that the MCAS scores are below the state average every year.
"Certainly, if we think MCAS is a reasonable measurement, we are not serving our students well," Williams said. "We're failing."
The question of whether the standards are reasonable is debatable, with Superintendent of Schools Rose Ellis calling the AYP standards "unrealistic" and Payne repeatedly reminding the committee that the entire MCAS assessment will be reworked next year. Williams even said she does not think MCAS are good assessments.
Either way, the low scores are a concern for school officials and Payne, who had just recently taken charge of the middle school since the School Committee voted to hire an assistant principal for the school, has crafted an action plan to combat the failing test scores.
The first aspect of that plan was to hire an assistant principal who will have an educational focus. That hire — Christopher Barnes — will now lean on curriculum leaders to improve the scores.
However, Payne said he made the decision to keep the same math curriculum leader because most of the staff does not have the qualifications — a move School Committee Chairman Robert Ericson opposed.
"If you have somebody not performing, you replace them with somebody who will. We haven't been doing well for four years and we're going to let it slide?... Obviously, the time to take a different approach is now," Ericson said and gave Payne a short leash for the decision. "You have some time but not much."
Payne said that if putting administrative pressure on the math department does not turn things around, a change would be made.
"If progress isn't being made, we won't wait until June to make a decision," Payne said.
Additionally, the school is assessing and improving instruction by working with officials from the state District and School Assistance Centers and a new math coach. The plan also calls for focusing more federal resources to provide tutoring, professional development and data collection as well as linking students with academic support programs such as programs provided by the Sylvan Learning Center and the Williams Center.
If the school continues to fail AYP standards for two more years, the school will slip into the "restructuring" category and the state will force massive changes. As a worst-case scenario, Ellis cited a failing school in Rhode Island that eventually fired its entire faculty. While that may not happen in Williamstown, the state will give the school options to restructure its staff.
Ellis also added that the state does have a waiver system in place that could prolong the school being forced to make structural changes.
On the English Language Arts assessments, the school is well above state standards. Of 10th-graders, 92 percent are proficient or advanced — 8 percentage points above the state average.
Mount Greylock MCAS Report 2011
Tags: MCAS, MGRHS,
