Lynn school MCAS gains encouraging

LYNN – Lynn schools made some solid gains in the MCAS scores released this week by the state Department of Education.Although city educators admit there’s a lot of work ahead, they also saw some encouraging numbers as well as reasons to be optimistic.”With a couple of exceptions, we have made progress,” said School Superintendent Catherine Latham. “I am pleased with the results and that progress.”At the high school level Classical saw a big bump in math scores with 43 percent of the Class of 2012 earning the highest or advanced score. English language arts scores saw some small fluctuations, but 74 percent of students who took the test last spring were in the top two brackets.”Overall, we’ve made some gains,” said Principal Gene Constantino. “We have a lot of work to do, but we have a plan in place and we have a lot of strong support.”At English High School, Vice Principal Tom Strangie credits the faculty for math scores that put 70 percent of students in the top two levels of advanced and proficient. In English language arts, 74 percent of the students scored in those top tiers.”We have a phenomenal math department,” said Strangie. “Everyone is working hard, teachers are here after school and there’s a program with retired teachers tutoring kids.”Lynn Vocational Technical Institute and the Fecteau-Leary School have challenges ahead, especially with math. At LVTI, 20 percent of the students will need tutoring to get their scores up to passing while at Fecteau-Leary half of the class of 2012 will need to take the test again in order to earn the passing grades they need for diplomas.Some areas of interest for Lynn schools:BREED, MARSHALL AND PICKERINGLynn’s middle schools also saw some progress in eighth-grade math and English scores. At Thurgood Marshall Middle School, 10 percent of the students scored in the top level for math while another 17 percent earned proficient scores. On the English exam 59 percent of Marshall’s eighth-graders are in the top two levels.Seventy percent of the eighth-grade class at Pickering scored in the top two levels for English, while 49 percent earned either proficient or advanced math scores. Breed eighth-graders have similar results with 62 percent earning the top scores in English and 30 scoring advanced or proficient in math.Marshall’s Principal Richard Cowdell said that there are a significant percentage of students whose scores were in the bottom two categories, “needs improvement” and “warning,” but those are challenges he is confident the school can meet.”We are behind in math, but we are making slow and steady progress,” said Cowdell. “The good part is that we have continued to show improvement.”HARRINGTON AND CONNERYEarly last March, Harrington and Connery Elementary Schools were placed on a state list of under-performing or Level 4 schools, partly due to MCAS scores. The schools were required to develop new improvement plans that included changes in curriculum and the head offices. Mary Dill is now the principal at Connery while Debra Ruggiero is at Harrington.Both schools are receiving federal aid to support their plans and there are already a few good signs from last spring’s MCAS tests.At Harrington, 33 percent of the fifth grade scored proficient on the MCAS English exam, up for 17 percent in 2009. And the number of fifth-graders who were at the bottom level has gone down from 42 to 19 percent. Last year, only 7 percent of the fifth grade earned a proficient score in math. This year, 20 percent of the class are proficient and 2 percent are advanced.At Connery, third-graders increased their English scores from 9 to 24 percent, scoring in the proficient range. The fifth grade kept up the steadily increasing scores in science and technology, bringing the percent of students who are proficient from 25 in 2009 to 33 this year.FEDERAL RATINGWhile many test score numbers are showing signs of improvement there are other types of assessments that come with MCAS. One trouble area for Lynn scho