Peabody MCAS scores to get closer look from board

PEABODY-After School Committee members had a chance to look over the most recent packet of MCAS results, one general consensus was reached by all: individual data needs to be analyzed.?The most important piece are the individual results of our students,” said Assistant Superintendent Joe Mastrocola, who strongly suggested that the key component to improving Peabody?s schools is through individual student assessment.School Committee member Mark Bartkiewicz couldn?t agree more after looking at the decline in scores for third and fourth grade English language arts students.?We really need to look at (this on) an individual student level,” he said. “These are just numbers on a page.”Peabody Veterans Memorial High School Principal Ed Sapienza said that he has already begun taking an aggressive approach to looking at and improving results for specific students.?We?re trying to examine students who failed individually,” he said, noting that he?s personally looked at their transcripts, attendance records, and disciplinary records in assessing students who failed. Sapienza said if a student doesn?t go to class, chances are they don?t do well on the MCAS.As part of his aggressive plan, Sapienza created “Period 8,” an hour and a half-long after school program to help the handful of students who failed in math and/or English.?We are making moderate progress,” said Mastrocola regarding the overall improvement seen in the city?s test scores from last year.Tenth graders at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, for example, improved overall in terms of mathematics. The percentage of students scoring in both the advanced and proficient levels increased from last year, while the percentage of students failing decreased.But, that was not the case for all schools.There were some areas of concern including fifth grade students at the Welch School. The percentage of students with a proficient score in English language arts dropped to 33 percent, down 13 percent from last year. Math scores didn?t fare much better with a 21 percent increase in students who failed.Such results did not weaken the confidence Mastrocola has in the Peabody school system or his hopes for future success.?The MCAS is only one piece of assessment that we use to assess our schools,” he said, hinting towards the feeling that it may not be the most accurate or reliable way to do so.School Committee Member Beverly Ann Griffin Dunne has long been an advocate for questioning the validity of the MCAS. She said that until it can be proven that every student in every city and town in Massachusetts is taking the tests they?re required to take, the “state average is useless.”Furthermore, Dunne believes that state results are “faulty comparisons” that work to increase real estate value in some area, and decrease value in others.