Adams-Cheshire Principals Share Positive MCAS Scores
CHESHIRE, Mass. — Students in the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District have improved overall in scoring on the state's standardized tests.
"Last meeting, I gave you the overview, but we will have the experts up here tonight to answer any questions you may have," Superintendent John Vosburgh said Monday at the School Committee meeting. "We are going to talk about strengths, struggles and what we are doing in response to those struggles."
Students took the so-called MCAS 2.0 (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) that differs from previous iterations of the test. Instead of receiving a level, schools and districts are now notified if they need assistance.
Overall, the district received a rating of 59 percent "partially meeting targets" which translates into not requiring "assistance or intervention."
Previously the district was a Level 3 district, which triggered state intervention.
Before turning it over to individual principals, Vosburgh said 90 percent of districts in the state were designated as not requiring assistance or intervention, 7 percent were designated as in need of intervention and 3 percent had insufficient data.
At a school level, 74 percent of schools were designated as not requiring assistance or intervention, 14 percent were designated as in need of intervention and 12 percent were designated as insufficient data.
Hoosac Valley High School Principal Colleen Byrd said the school was rated at 75 percent meeting targets.
"You can see that we are meeting targets and we are no longer in need of assistance or intervention which is good news," she said.
She said targets were met in Grade 8 English language arts and that Grade 10 exceeded targets. The high-needs subgroup also saw a 5.6 percent increase in scoring.
In math, Grade 8 students exceeded targets and the economically disadvantaged subgroup also showed an increase of 5.6 percent from 2017.
Grade 10 met targets in math.
In the new science section, Grade 8 students met targets and both high needs and economically disadvantaged subgroups also made gains of 6.5 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively, from 2017.
Grade 9 students also exceeded targets science and the high needs subgroup made a 7.1 percent gain.
Byrd said the plan is to continue the work started to improve upon where students have struggled – especially with the high-needs subgroup. The school also wants to better handle behavioral problems and keep students in the classroom as much as possible.
"The teachers are really focused on behaviors that they can handle in the classrooms as opposed to sending them out right away," she said. "If they need some attention rather than going to the office they can go to this Student Alternate Learning Center, where they can meet with a teacher to de-escalate."
She added that they will continue preventive work to foster a positive school environment.
Middle school Principal Christopher Sposato said his school was at 52 percent in hitting targets.
"So we are really happy we are not requiring assistance or intervention we are meeting targets and eventually we want to be exceeding those targets," he said.
In ELA, all grade levels met targets and students with disabilities exceeded targets.
He did add that they did not make the strides they needed to in math and this will be a continued focus this year.
"Math across the levels was our biggest challenge and we really want to hit that 500 mark," he said. "That is something that we are working on."
He said class time in math and English has been increased by 25 percent to help bolster instruction and the curriculum has been better aligned.
He said specific professional development will also help improve test scores.
Elementary School Principal Michele Colvin was happy to announce that her school hit 100 percent of meeting targets.
"We are so excited to say that we are 100 percent hitting our targets and that is something we have not been able to say in previous years," she said. "All of the credit really goes to the teachers who are in the trenches … we are definitely seeing the fruits of our labor."
She said the school's high-needs population did backslide a bit but by using MCAS data to better inform the curriculum, teachers feel they can turn this around.
School Committee Chairman Paul Butler said he was happy to see all the schools, but specifically Hoosac Valley Elementary, improve.
"This is very good news and for many years I got the sense that there was some frustration among teachers that no matter what they tried it just wasn’t making it," he said. "It is nice to see some positive improvements so thank you all."
Tags: ACRSD, MCAS,
