Revere’s Rizzo scores perfect on MCAS test

REVERE – Paul Rizzo’s eyes light up when he talks about Jonathan Papelbon but his perfect score on the state comprehensive assessment test has students and teachers glancing his way in the halls of Revere High School.The 14 year-old son of Paul and Lisa Rizzo and brother of Leanne Rizzo posted top (280 point) scores on MCAS mathematics, science and English tests he took last year as a Rumney Marsh Academy eighth-grader.Rizzo said he practiced hard for the exams but never thought he would ace them.”They called us down to our homerooms to look at our scores. I couldn’t believe it.”His accomplishment placed Rizzo in select company: Of all fifth- and eighth-graders required to take MCAS tests in three subjects last year, only four posted perfect scores. The other three students were from Natick, North Andover and Marblehead.Rizzo said the science test was the hardest of the three because it covered material spanning fifth- through eighth-grade curriculums. Rizzo credited his teachers as much as his interests in core academic subjects with helping him achieve MCAS perfection.Middle school teachers at Rumney Marsh (which is located in the Beachmont School until construction finishes on Rumney Marsh Academy later this year) outlined questions and answers from the test to Rizzo and fellow students and assigned weekend homework featuring multiple choice and other types of questions.”Our teachers really prepared us for it,” he said, adding, “A few people have asked me, ‘Paul, what’s your secret?’ I tell them it is really doing all the work through the year and not all of it at the last minute.”He also made sure to take time on the day he took the test to re-check his answers to questions.”We started at 8 a.m. and finished after 2 p.m.”The much-heralded and criticized MCAS test has been the standard for gauging academic public school progress since 1993 when the testing requirement was included in a state education reform law.All public school students take the test, including ones with disabilities and limited English comprehension skills. Public high school students cannot get a high school diploma unless they pass the 10th-grade MCAS math and English exams.Rizzo hopes to duplicate his eighth-grade scores when he takes the MCAS this year with fellow freshmen. He plays golf and just signed up for indoor track and he wants to try out for the baseball team.”I’d like to play third base,” he said, adding he hopes to amass the grades and test scores sufficient to steer him into a Boston area college, possibly Boston College.