By Michael Coughlin Jr.
At its regular meeting last week, the Revere School Committee reviewed the latest accountability data and MCAS scores and was presented with some highlights and areas for improvement.
First, Assistant Superintendent Danielle Mokaba-Bernardo highlighted information on accountability.
Specifically, the district was classified as “not requiring assistance or intervention.” Mokaba-Bernardo said this was because “we demonstrated that we made moderate progress towards our targets, and that is measured based on a cumulative criterion-referenced target, which was 40%.”
It should be noted that factors considered when measuring a district’s progress toward its targets include achievement, growth, progress toward English language proficiency, chronic absenteeism, high school completion, and advanced coursework.
While the district as a whole does not need assistance or intervention, two schools, Rumney Marsh Academy (RMA) and CityLab, were classified as needing it.
As for why RMA was given this classification, it ranked in the bottom 10% in performance of middle schools in the state and had low student group performance for white students and students with disabilities.
CityLab was given this designation because of its test participation rate. However, Mokaba-Bernardo noted that the school has a small population that takes the test.
“So one or two students over the course of two years put them in — it was 94% participation rate in the math test, and what they needed was a 95%,” said Mokaba-Bernardo.
Later, Mokaba-Bernardo outlined accountability percentiles for individual schools. The presentation given during the school committee meeting indicated that these measurements are “an indication of the school’s overall performance relative to other schools that serve similar grades, and is calculated using multiple years of data for all accountability indicators.”
Some highlights of this measurement include the Beachmont School’s 53%—meaning the school outperformed 53% of elementary schools in the state. The Paul Revere School’s 37%, Garfield Elementary’s 35%, the Hill School’s 31%, and the Whelan School’s 29% were also considered highlights.
On the other hand, the Susan B. Anthony School, Garfield Middle School, RMA, Revere High School, and the Lincoln School all came in at or under 20%, with RMA rounding out the group that was identified as focus areas for growth at 7%.
Following a review of accountability data, Mokaba-Bernardo presented a chart that compared the district’s MCAS scores to similar districts in the state.
To view this chart, visit http://reverema.iqm2.com/Citizens/Board/1048-Revere-School-Committee, click on the agenda packet for the October 15th Regular School Committee meeting, and skip to page 8.
“Overall, what we find is this is a nice comparison to show sort of how we’re doing compared to our similar urban districts,” said Mokaba-Bernardo.
Regarding the actual scores for Revere, 22% of students in ELA grades 3-8 met or exceeded expectations, and 49% of students in ELA grade 10 met or exceeded expectations.
In math, 25% of students met or exceeded expectations in grades 3-8, and 31% met or exceeded expectations in grade 10.
Finally, 28% of students in science met or exceeded expectations in grades 5 and 8, and 40% met or exceeded expectations in high school.
Growth average and student growth percentage were also covered. Mokaba-Bernardo indicated that typical growth is in the 40s and high typical growth is in the 50s.
The figures for student growth percentage are as follows: grades 3-8 ELA: 47%, grade 10 ELA: 54%, grades 3-8 math: 46%, grade 10 math: 49%.
According to Mokaba-Bernardo, some positives from all this information were grade 10 ELA and science and the increases in the students who met or exceeded expectations in grade 4 math and grade 5 science.
She also indicated that chronic absenteeism decreased in several schools and that the Whelan School’s accountability percentile increased nine points from last year.
As for areas Mokaba-Bernardo noted would need focus, constructed responses, 5th grade, and curriculum implementation at the middle and high school levels in math were mentioned.
She also mentioned plans to focus on writing in ELA, combating chronic absenteeism, and English learners and students with disabilities.
Lastly, to close out the presentation, Mokaba-Bernardo reviewed some next steps, including reviewing data, discussing some ongoing and past work, such as curriculum alignment, and discussing the RMA’s eligibility for a $50,000 assistance grant.
To view this presentation, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjzRhbhJe40 and skip to 28:00.
