Swampscott, Nahant score above average

SWAMPSCOTT / NAHANT – Overall, students in Swampscott and Nahant scored better on MCAS in 2007 than the state average, according to results released by the state Department of Education Thursday.Swampscott High School students performed exceedingly in both English Language Arts and Mathematics. Thirty-seven percent of 10th graders were ranked as advanced in ELA – several points above the state average of 22 percent. Only 49 percent of students statewide scored in the proficient category and in town 48 percent of the tenth graders taking the test were ranked as proficient.Statewide, 24 percent of students were ranked as needing improvement in ELA, but in Swampscott only 13 percent of the students fell into that category. Only 2 percent of the tenth graders in Swampscott failed the ELA portion of the MCAS and the statewide average was 6 percent.The 10th graders at Swampscott High School fared even better on the math portion of the exam.Statewide 42 percent of the students were ranked as advanced but in Swampscott 54 percent of the students were advanced. The percentage of Swampscott students in the needs improvement and failing categories was well below the state average. Only 14 percent of the SHS 10th graders need improvement compared to 22 percent statewide.Superintendent Matthew Malone said he is pleased with the overall test results.”I think we’re in a position where we’ve reached a plateau,” he said. “We’ve scored strongly in Swampscott over the last several years and we continue to score strongly. But we’re going to focus on continual improvement and we’re going to keep working hard.”Elementary students in Nahant didn’t fare quite as well as their peers in Swampscott on the MCAS. The percentage of students at Johnson Elementary School students who ranked as advanced on the MCAS is below the state average, but the percentage of student failing the test is also below the state average at all grade levels with the exception of those students who took the ELA portion of the test in fourth grade last year.