MCAS: Peabody schools mostly improve; more warnings given

PEABODY – Peabody Public Schools students showed mild improvement in the most recent round of MCAS scores, based on results for 2010 released Tuesday by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.However, some decreases in performance surfaced in the third and sixth grades where more students received warnings than did in the previous year.Students in the 10th grade had an 8 percent failure rate in Mathematics compared to a 10 percent failure rate in 2009. Of those students who passed the Mathematics portion of the test, 36 percent were deemed advanced, 35 percent proficient, and 22 percent as needing improvement.The 10th-graders had only a 5 percent failure rate for English Language Arts testing, down from 8 percent last year. Of those who passed, 15 percent were rated as advanced, 56 percent as proficient and 24 percent as needing improvement.Gains were also seen in Science and Technology, the 7 percent failure rate down two points from last year’s 9 percent. Of those students who successfully completed the test, 11 percent were considered advanced and 43 percent proficient, while 39 percent still need improvement.Under state education law, all students must pass the 10th-grade Mathematics, English Language Arts and Science and Technology sections in order to graduate with their class in 2012.At the eighth-grade level, 5 percent were given warnings, compared to 6 percent last year in English language arts.Twenty percent were given warnings in Mathematics, down from 25 percent last year.Slight improvements were registered among eighth-graders in Science and Technology, with 14 percent receiving warnings versus 16 percent in 2009.At the seventh-grade level, the number of warnings in English language arts remained unchanged at 6 percent, while mathematics warnings decreased from 22 to 17 percent.In the 6th grade, warnings stayed the same for English Language Arts at 7 percent. Unfortunately, the warnings for sixth-grade Mathematics increased over last year from 16 to 18 percent.Peabody fifth-graders held firm in English Language Arts with 5 percent receiving warnings. Mathematics students improved, with only 15 percent receiving warnings compared to 19 percent last year.In Science and Technology, the fifth-graders had unchanged results with a 9 percent receiving warnings.In the fourth grade, the number of warnings for English Language Arts increased from 7 to 8 percent, as did those for Mathematics, from 10 to 11 percent.Third-graders showed the most improvement, receiving only 4 percent warnings in English Language Arts compared to 9 percent in 2009. They also performed better in Mathematics, with 7 percent getting a warning versus 15 percent last year.