City scores split on MCAS

Scores from Gloucester Public School District students held steady on the 2012 MCAS tests, echoing both the district’s strengths in English Language arts, and its collective difficulty with mathematics.

Gloucester High School’s 10th graders, for example, hit the 90th percentile mark in proficiency in English Language Arts, yet saw scores tumble from a year ago in mathematics.

Overall, students across the district, from the five elementary schools to Gloucester High, showed some improvement on the 2012 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests administered last spring, according to results released Wednesday by the state’s Department of Education.

But the percentage of students scoring as proficient or better on the tests generally came in either at or just below the state’s average. And across the district, several grades scored lower than they had in previous years.

Sixty-nine percent of district students scored proficient or higher in English Language Arts, matching the state average and marking an increase of two percentage points over the 67 percent of Gloucester students who posted proficient scoers a year ago.

In mathematics, 51 percent of district students scored proficient or higher, coming in lower than the state’s 59 percent proficiency average, but again marking a slight gain from the overall the 50 percent proficiency mark the city school’s posted a year ago.

In science, technology and engineering district students scored 50 percent proficient or higher, coming in below the state average of 54 percent.

While the district scores showed some improvement this year, Superintended Richard Safier said he’s concerned about mathematics and fourth grade scores districtwide. Low scores at Beeman and Veterans Elementary Schools, he said, are also cause for concern.

At Gloucester High, however, 90 percent of Grade 10 students scored proficient or better in ELA, up from 84 percent last year, while 71 percent of Grade 10 students scored proficient or better in math, down from 76 percent last year. The state average for ELA was 88 percent and 78 percent in mathematics.

At O’Maley Middle School, ELA scores stayed constant with the exception of Grade 6, where 61 percent of all students scored proficient or higher, down from 74 percent. In Grade 7, 74 percent scored proficient or higher, up from 65 percent last year, while 75 percent of Grade 8 students scored proficient or higher this year, down from 78 percent last year, according to the state’s data.

O’Maley’s Grade 7 students raised scores significantly in math, with 50 percent scoring proficient, up from 31 percent last year. But 51 percent of sixth-graders scored proficient or better, down from 53 percent last year, and 37 percent of Grade 8 students scored proficient or better, down from last year’s 41 percent.

The state average for Grade 6 ELA was 66 percent of students scoring proficient or better. In Grade 7 that was 71 percent. In Grade 8, 81 percent. In math the state average for Grade 6 was 60 per cent proficient or higher, in Grade 7, 51 per cent, in Grade 8, 52 percent.

At Beeman Elementary, the English Language Arts — or ELA — scores for Grade 5 fell from 60 percent of students scoring proficient or above to 56 percent. In Grade 4, those scores rose from 21 to 31 percent proficiency in ELA, but Grade 3 ELA scores fell from 68 percent to 54 percent — all below the state averages.

The elementary school fared worse in mathematics. While 44 percent of Grade 3 students scored proficient or higher, up from 38 percent last year, only 19 percent of Grade 4 students scored proficient or higher, down from 23 percent last year. Yet 56 percent of Grade 5 students — the class that posted a 23-percent mark as fourth-graders a year ago — scored as proficient or better thus time around.

At Veterans Elementary, 43 percent of students scored proficient or above in ELA, up from 38 percent last year. Grade 4 scores rose from 23 percent to 39 percent of students scoring proficient or above this year. Grade 5 students fell from 49 percent scoring proficient or above to 33 percent this year.

The school also had a down year in math. Just 18 percent of Grade 5 students scored proficient or above in mathematics, down from 20 percent last year. Grade 4 students rose from 17 percent proficient to 22 percent proficient or above. Grade three students fell from 51 percent scoring proficient or above to 39 percent proficient or above.

Beeman and Veterans are title 1 schools, both with around 60 percent of the student population in the free or reduced lunch program.

“There’s something going in Grade 4 and Grade 5 that’s a serious concern,” said Safier, “We’re going to sit down and find out why the intervention we put in last year isn’t working.”

Students at West Parish Elementary held steady in ELA, except for Grade 3 which rose from 64 percent scoring proficient or above to 75 percent. Grade 4 students rose from 62 percent proficient or above to 65 percent. Grade 5 students fell from 71 percent proficient or above to 62 percent.

Sixty-two percent of West Parish Grade 3 students scored proficient or above in mathematics, up from 60 percent last year. Grade 4 students fell rose from 48 percent proficient or above to 49 percent proficient or above. Grade 5 students rose a percentage point from last year with 62 percent of students scoring proficient or above.

In East Gloucester Elementary School Grade 3 students fell from 71 percent scoring proficient or above to 56 percent in English Language Arts this year. In Grade 4, 62 percent of students scored proficient or above, up from 57 percent last year. In Grade 5 71 percent of students scored proficient or above down from 76 percent last year.

That school’s mathematics scores were above the district’s average. In Grade 3 75 percent of students scored proficient or better, down from 83 percent last year. In Grade 4 55 percent of students scored proficient, down from 69 percent last year. In Grade 5 69 percent of students scored proficient in mathematics, down from 76 percent last year.

Plum Cove elementary school scored higher than other district elementary schools this year. In ELA 70 percent of Grade 3 students scored proficient or higher, up from 67 percent. 60 percent of Grade 4 students scored proficient, up from 45 percent last year. 74 per cent of Grade 5 students scored proficient, down from 84 percent last year.

In math, 80 percent of Grade 5 students scored proficient or better, the highest percentage of all grades in the district, it’s up from 74 percent last year. 52 percent of Grade 4 students scored proficient, up from 44 per cent last year. 51 percent of Grade 3 students scored proficient, down from 65 percent last year.

The numbers are according to a spreadsheet provided by the GPSD.

In ELA, the state average was 61 per cent of students scoring proficient or above in Grade 3 , in Grade 4 the state’s average was 57 percent, and in Grade 5 the average was 61 per cent. In math, the Grade 3 average was 61 percent, in Grade 4 the average was 51 percent, in Grade 5 the average was 57 per cent.

Fourth-grade across the district seems to score low, said Safier, he said the district is looking to remedy that.

“Our job is to find out where kids are and move them up, we’re committees to educating every students, but (sometimes) it’s a long row to hoe.”

Steven Fletcher may be contacted at 1-978-283-7000 x3455, or sfletcher@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevengdt.

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