Marblehead and Lynnfield scores show improvement

MARBLEHEAD / LYNNFIELD – The economically similar communities of Marblehead and Lynnfield showed similar gains on MCAS, according to results released by the state Department of Education Thursday.Marblehead High School showed marked improvement in its test scores over last year, notably the 10th grade English Language Arts section, where the advanced group jumped from 17 percent in 2006 to 44 percent in 2007.Superintendent of Schools G. Paul Dulac said the results are a by-product of teachers spending extra time with their students on the curriculum.”We’re still evaluating the scores because they just came out, but generally we are pleased with the scores as we have been in the past,” Dulac said. “We really haven’t gotten into the details just yet.”While Dulac said the school district is currently ranked at 90 percent above proficient, he hopes to achieve 100 percent in the near future.The Marblehead Veterans Middle School showed improvement over last year’s scores, with warning levels in Grade 7 math markedly reduced. In 2006, 13 percent fell into the warning category, and this year that number dropped to 8 percent.Advanced scores in English Language Arts jumped from 23 percent in 2006 to 39 percent in 2007.”There were just tremendous scores at the middle school. I’m very pleased with them,” Dulac said. “The creative thinking scores were very high.”Moving forward, Dulac said a game plan would be brainstormed within the next few weeks, which may include parental involvement to help boost future scores.”One of the areas that we are thinking about has to do with students’ parents and having them give us assistance in extra curricular activities and homework,” he said. “There may also be a class for parents to take to assist their kids?we are right on the fringe of that.”The Coffin Elementary School also demonstrated an improvement in scores, with Grade 3 math advanced numbers jumping from 10 percent in 2006, to 47 percent in 2007.Grade 3 reading proficient scores also climbed to 48 percent in 2007 from 34 percent in 2006.Like Marblehead, Lynnfield schools saw many areas of improvement in MCAS scores across the board.Students at the high school saw the greatest progress in English language arts. Their scores increased nearly 13 percent from last year with 51 percent of students testing at the advanced level. Math scores improved to 68 percent of students reaching the advanced performance level, up 5 percent from last year.The eighth grade saw mixed results with an increase in percentage of students failing math and English language arts, yet an increase in advanced scores for both subjects, as well.However, it’s the third grade students who take the prize for stepping it up in math. The percentage of students testing at the advanced level greatly increased from 7 percent last year to 24 percent this year.Overall, Lynnfield scored significantly better than other cities and towns across Massachusetts.