Lynn MCAS scores on par with state average

Lynn students scored slightly lower overall on the 2008 MCAS than in 2007, but the district stayed on track with its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the majority of results were in line with state averages.
The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education released the results of the 2008 spring MCAS test to the public Wednesday, showing a slight improvement in high school English/language arts (ELA) scores but a decline in both math and ELA scores in elementary schools in Lynn.
Click here for complete district-by-district MCAS results.
Overall, the district maintained its status in corrective action while meeting its AYP improvement levels in both math and ELA.
The district improved overall in ELA, reaching AYP for the first time since 2004. Students also continued to reach AYP in math district wide, but certain subgroups failed to make the distinction for the first time since 2006.
Lynn continues to struggle most with subgroups such as Asian/Pacific Islanders, special education, Hispanic and low income students failed to make AYP in a variety of categories.
Perhaps the largest and most troubling decline was in grades 3-5, where students failed to make AYP in math after doing so last year and scored below state averages on both tests.
Statewide AYP results released last week show that the majority of school districts felt a decline in scores at the elementary level, while middle school scores remained the same and high school scores improved.
Fourteen Lynn elementary schools failed to make AYP in at least one subject in 2008, in-line with state numbers overall. According to the Department of Education, 50 percent of schools in the state failed to make AYP this year.
Superintendent Nicholas Kostan reviewed the scores Wednesday and said he would consider speaking with superintendents from other districts to try and determine why elementary school scores declined this year.
“It looks like the scores pretty much met the rest of the state’s activity, down in grades 3-5, flat in middle school and up in Grade 10,” he said. “We just have to look at where we need to make improvements and go from there. Maybe talk to some other superintendents and see if we can figure out what happened in grades 3-5. Was it a harder test? Were there curriculum gaps?”
Highlights at the elementary school level include the now-closed Fallon School, where students continued to improve on both ELA and math exams after boasting the state’s most improved scores in 2007.
In contrast, students struggled at the Brickett Elementary School, dropping from 59 percent proficient in ELA to 33 percent and from 58 to 26 percent in math.
At the high school level, English High School performed the best of the three schools, making AYP in every category. Students at the school improved in ELA, with 54 percent of students scoring proficient, up from 49 percent last year, while the percentage of failing students improved from 5 percent to 3 percent.
The school also improved math scores with 35 students scoring advanced compared to 31 last year.
Classical students improved in ELA up from 8 to 12 percent scoring advanced, while 8 percent failed compared to 11 percent last year. Math scores declined, however, as 26 percent of students scored needs improvement, compared to 24 percent last year. The number of students scoring advanced on the math test improved from 32 to 35 percent, but the percentage of students who scored proficient fell from 32 percent to 27 percent.
Students at Lynn Vocational and Technical Institute drastically improved ELA scores with a 10 percent increase, 28 percent to 38 percent, in students who scored proficient on the exam. The school failed to improve in math, however, as the percentage of students scoring advanced fell from 12 to 10 percent while the percentage of students in needs improvement and failing categories remained the same.
The 2008 test marks the first year that 10th graders have to pass the science and technology