By Michael Coughlin Jr.
The Revere School Committee expressed disappointment after reviewing Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) results for the district at its regular meeting last week.
During the meeting, Revere’s Assistant Superintendent Danielle Mokaba-Bernardo reviewed the test scores for English language arts (ELA), math, and science/tech and engineering.
These scores are measured on a scale of exceeding, meeting, partially meeting, and not meeting expectations, and according to Mokaba-Bernardo, the district wants to see a majority of its students either exceeding or meeting expectations.
In terms of the ELA scores for grades 3-8, 3% exceeded expectations, 24% met expectations, 47% partially met expectations, and 27% did not meet expectations.
Although the percentage of students who exceeded expectations in this category remained the same as last year, the district saw decreases in those who met or partially met expectations and saw an increase in those not meeting expectations, according to data on the state’s school and district profiles website.
Regarding scores for grade 10 ELA, 8% exceeded expectations, 33% met expectations, 39% partially met expectations, and 20% did not meet expectations.
While the district saw an increase in those who exceeded expectations compared to last year in this category, it also saw a decrease in students who met expectations and an increase in those who did not meet expectations.
As for math, in grades 3-8, 3% exceeded expectations, 23% met expectations, 50% partially met expectations, and 25% did not meet expectations.
Compared to last year, the district saw increases in those who exceeded expectations in this category but also in those who did not meet expectations. It also saw decreases in the percentage of students who partially met or met expectations.
As for grade 10 math, this category saw decreases in those who exceeded or met expectations, while those not meeting expectations stayed the same. However, the percentage of those partially meeting expectations did increase.
Specifically, in grade 10 math this year, 3% exceeded expectations, 22% met expectations, 59% partially met expectations, and 15% did not meet expectations.
Moving on to science/tech and engineering, it was a similar story. Grade 5 science/tech and engineering saw a slight decrease in those meeting expectations compared to last year and an increase in those partially meeting expectations, while the other scores remained stagnant.
For Grade 8 science/tech and engineering, there were decreases in the percentage of students exceeding, meeting, and partially meeting expectations and an increase in those not meeting expectations compared to last year.
In grade 10 science/tech and engineering, the percentage of students meeting expectations decreased compared to last year. However, the percentage of those who exceeded and partially met expectations increased. The percentage of those who did not meet expectations remained the same.
Specifically, the scores for this year are as follows: in grade 5 science/tech and engineering, 3% exceeded expectations, 24% met expectations, 50% partially met expectations, and 24% did not meet expectations.
As for grade 8, 1% exceeded expectations, 25% met expectations, 42% partially met expectations, and 32% did not meet expectations.
Finally, in grade 10, 6% exceeded expectations, 30% met expectations, 49% partially met expectations, and 15% did not meet expectations.
In speaking about the scores, there was disappointment, especially considering the performance compared to last year.
Although Committee Member Aisha Milbury-Ellis expressed her displeasure with standardized testing, she said, “It’s disappointing. I’m sure we all feel the same way about this, and I just hope to see some improvement.”
Vice Chair of the Committee, Stacey Bronsdon-Rizzo, echoed Milbury-Ellis, saying, “I am disappointed that the numbers have gone down since last year. I was hoping to either see it stay steady or maybe even a little higher.”
While there was disappointment with MCAS scores, it was not all bad news. Concerning accountability rating, the district was classified as “not requiring assistance or intervention.”
“The reason for that was that we have made moderate progress toward our targets,” said Mokaba-Bernardo.
Moreover, no school in the district was found to require assistance or intervention, which Mokaba-Bernardo said was good news.
Further, there were highlights for some of the schools in the district in terms of their accountability percentiles.
According to Mokaba-Bernardo, the accountability percentile “is an indication of the school’s overall performance relative to other schools that serve similar grades, and it’s calculated using multiple years of data for all of the accountability indicators.”
One big highlight was that Beachmont Veterans Memorial School’s accountability percentile was 59%, meaning the school outperformed 59% of elementary schools across the state.
Other highlights included the Garfield Elementary School at 46%, Paul Revere Innovation School at 36%, and the Staff Sergeant James J. Hill Elementary School at 34%.
However, it should be noted that there were schools that were identified as focus areas for growth, like Rumney Marsh Academy, the Susan B. Anthony Middle School, and Revere High School, which were all under 20%.
In terms of next steps, Mokaba-Bernardo explained, “Principals and their administrative teams, as well as our curriculum directors and instructional coaches, are taking a deeper dive into individual schools and grade level results.”
“They’re diving down as far as individual standards and elements, and they’ll work with educators in their classrooms during PGT time, director meetings, and other opportunities to support this work,” she added.
Mokaba-Bernardo also went through work that is already in progress, such as 1 to 1 literacy tutoring at the elementary level, open SciEd at the middle school level, expanding GLEAM work to the middle and high school levels, and more.
Although there were some highlights for the district, as Superintendent of Schools Dianne Kelly put it, there is work to be done.
“We still have a lot of work to do in the district in a far way to improve the work that we’ve been doing,” said Kelly.
