Showing posts with label MCAS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MCAS. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

"It drives what we do"

The School Committee meeting Tuesday evening is partially covered in this article in the Milford Daily News. The District Improvement Plan was presented (as detailed) but there were other items on the agenda.

I did have the opportunity to work on the Strategic Planning Committee when the current vision and mission statements were developed. To see this latest iteration of the district plan build upon what was started then is heartening. The evolution of the planning process itself is good to see. No longer are we viewing multi-year plans, the plan will focus on a year at a time. Certain themes will carry from one year to another but they'll be able to re-focus to address the latest issues within that theme.

That the MCAS scores reflect only 20% of what goes on in the schools was one of the key reasons for this change in the planning approach.
"We wanted to take a step back," said Superintendent Maureen Sabolinski. "In the past, it has been really about our MCAS data; we decided to take a global perspective. We decided to look at a wide range of data … to articulate where we are going as a district." 
Part of this ideological shift stems from school officials wanting to spur success in all subjects, in math classes as much as art classes, as opposed to only those covered by the exam itself. 
Broadly, the core values in the plan include fostering the right academic climate, nurturing civic leadership and accepting more feedback from the community.

On the Parmenter modular units:
Essentially as these are the last of the leased units, the Town is dependent upon the contractor to remove them. Work was underway on Tuesday. They removed the cooling units from the roof of the modulars. They are scheduled to be removed from Parmenter by Friday. These delays will not be see in the removal of the other modular units as those are owned by Franklin and the DPW will control that schedule.



While there are population shifts from school to school, the district does not have a committee looking at redistricting until after the modular units are removed and the work on renovating Davis Thayer is complete. Both of these items will clarify the picture on what space is available and where the population exists within Franklin.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1803414278/Franklin-schools-improvement-plan-focuses-on-achievement-rather-than-test-scores#ixzz26FJRUcJx

For reporting on the complete agenda of Tuesday's School Committee meeting, you can find the link here:
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2012/09/school-committee-091112.html

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

School Committee: MCAS documents

These two documents will be part of the School Committee meeting discussion on the recent MCAS testing results.

Report:

MCAS SC Report 2011


Presentation:

SC MCAS 2011

Friday, November 26, 2010

FM #78 - MCAS 2010 - Franklin, MA

This is #78 in the series of internet radio shows or podcast for Franklin Matters.


This podcast is linked to the presentation made by the District Leadership Team at the Franklin, MA School Committee meeting on Tuesday, November 16, 2010 to create a slidecast.


The agenda item is introduced by School Committee Chair, Jeff Roy. The group presenting is introduced by Michelle Kingsland-Smith. Several members of the Leadership Team take part in the presentation and they announce themselves as they begin each section.


At the end of the presentation (about 50 mins), there is a Q&A section (approx 22 mins) with the School Committee. To help you listen and follow along, I have duplicated each slide that was the subject of the question as it was asked. Hence, the overall presentation document is longer than the original which can also be found online at the link included.



I'll concur with the comments about the quality of the presentation, this is one of the better ones I have seen. The data is clear, well organized and while it does raise some questions (deliberately in some cases), answers to the questions were well prepared for.


As I close this session this week, let me remind you that

  • If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
  • If you don’t like something, please tell me

Thank you for listening!


The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark and Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission

I hope you enjoy!

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view this slidecast.


The presentation as reported on live during the meeting:



The original copy of the presentation:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/11/franklin-ma-mcas-2010-presentation.html


Franklin, MA

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

In the News - Downtown Partnership, Price Chopper, MCAS


Franklin Downtown Partnership launches new website


The new website can be found here: franklindowntownpartnership.org/



Franklin Downtown Partnership plans to decorate the town Sunday

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Live reporting - MCAS - part 3 - Q&A

Closing comments on the presentation itself:

27.5% percent of the graduating class earned the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship

Literacy work in the district makes a difference
Data analysis has doubled, so folks are getting the data to use and improve instruction and curriculum

Concern with increasing class size puts greater pressure on the special ed and low income students
MCAS is a moving target which in and f itself makes it hard to continue to perform

Core standards are in their final changes, the 2011 MCAS tests will reflect the current core standards
during 2012, the tests will be a hybrid of new standard and old standards
in 2013 the tests will be fully against material in the updated core standards

Cafasso - What happened in 2009 to cause the trough? (see slide 9 - Math subgroups Franklin to State Comparison)

Michele Kingsland-Smith - the 8th grade test is the hardest test they will take, as well as changes in the District which affected the instruction

Cafasso - I don't understand the growth slide, can you take a number

Kingsland-Smith - Better to see at an individual level, it measures the amount of growth for that performance in comparison to the other students. You may have had the same grade but you achieved your grade by growing more from the prior year than someone else.

Cafasso - you are highly efficient and we need to convince folks to continue to invest in this efficiency

Roy - Slide 13
Steve Sherlock - provided the analogy of the crew team, both finish in a tie, one had started out and got a big lead. the other team increased the rate of the strokes to finish in the tie. Hence the second team had a greater rate of strokes like the greater growth they are talking about.

A great presentation

Me: I concur, this is one of the better presentations I have seen, it makes sense.

Franklin, MA

Live reporting - MCAS - part 2

2. Guests/Presentations  (continued)
b. MCAS Presentation – District Leadership Team

Sharon Jackson, computer teacher @ HMMS
Eileen Belastock, Math Dept. Chair @ FHS
Lucas Giguere, Assistant Principal @ ASMS
Margaret Miller, Head Teacher/Math CET @ DT
RuthAnn McHugh, Head Teacher/Math CET @ Keller

The presentation itself can be found here

Slide 11
New growth measure introduced to districts in 2009 that will enhance districts’ ability to analyze MCAS data to inform instruction, and make programmatic and curricular decisions.
Scale of 1-100, student growth percentiles (SGP’s) are calculated using two or more years of consecutive MCAS data.
Growth is measured by comparing changes in MCAS performance from one year to the next with that of “academic peers” (individual student, school, district).
Academic peers - students in state with same MCAS performance history
Takes into account the test t (Math or ELA) & increasingly more difficult/complex grade level learning standards.
Not calculated on Grade 3 tests as this grade represents the first year in the test administration cycle.
Not calculated for Science/Technology or Biology tests as two consecutive years are needed
Commissioner of Education in his September 10, 2010 memo to Massachusetts Educators,
“In simple terms, students earning high growth percentiles answered more questions correctly on the spring 2010 MCAS test than did their academic peers;
conversely, students earning low growth percentiles answered fewer questions correctly than their academic peers.”

Slide 12
Graphic represents a Growth Bar Graph – identifies % of students who performed within each of the growth percentiles from yellow (Very Low) to dark green (Very High)

The goal is for all students fall within the Moderate to Very High Growth percentiles (40-100%) on ELA and Math MCAS tests

This graphic represents all Franklin students in ALL grades who took the ELA MCAS tests.

62% of all students demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on their ELA MCAS Tests
42% demonstrated High/Very High Growth on ELA tests
37% demonstrated Low Growth on these tests
CPI Performance on ELA 94.0 Very High

Slide 13
This graphic represents ALL Franklin students in EACH grade who took the ELA MCAS tests.

In grades 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 at least 60% of all students demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on their ELA MCAS Tests
Gr 4 - 73% M to VH
Gr 5 – 68% M to VH
Gr 6 – 60% M to VH
Gr 7 – 63% M to VH
Gr 8 – 61% M to VH

51% of Gr 10 students demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on their ELA MCAS tests
92% of Gr 10 students performed at the Advanced/Proficient levels on this test

Slide 14
This graphic represents all Franklin students in ALL grades who took the Math MCAS tests.

60% of all students demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on their Math MCAS Tests
38% demonstrated High/Very High Growth on Math tests
39% demonstrated Low Growth on these tests
CPI Performance in Mathematics – 89.9 almost Very High


Slide 15
This graphic represents ALL Franklin students in EACH grade who took the Math MCAS tests.

In grades 4, 5, 7,8 and 10 at least 50% of all students demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on their Math MCAS Tests
Gr 4 - 74% M to VH
Gr 5 – 69% M to VH
Gr 7 – 63% M to VH
Gr 8 – 56% M to VH
Gr 10 – 53% M to VH

45% of Gr 6 students demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on their Math MCAS tests
78% of Gr 6 students performed at the Advanced/Proficient levels on this test

Slide 17
This graphic represents our Student Growth distribution for our Low Income and SPED students in ALL grades in English Language Arts

Low Income Student Growth
54% of all Low Income students demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on their ELA MCAS tests
65% of non-Low Income students demonstrated Moderate to Very High growth on the same tests
36% LI students demonstrated High to Very High growth in ELA as compared to 44% non-LI students
10% more Low Income students demonstrated Low Growth on the ELA tests than non-Low Income students
Students in this subgroups demonstrated High performance with a CPI of 82.9
57% of Low Income students performed at the Advanced/Proficient levels vs 87% of non-Low Income students

Special Education Student Growth
54% of all Sped students demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on their ELA MCAS tests
34% of Sped students demonstrated High to Very High growth on ELA tests
45% of Sped students demonstrated Low Growth on the ELA MCAS tests
43% of Franklin Sped students performed at Advanced/Proficient levels on this test
Data was unavailable for the team to compare Sped with Non-Sped Student Growth Percentiles. This data will be included in the MCAS Report to School Committee.

Slide 18
This graphic represents our Student Growth distribution for our Low Income and SPED students in ALL grades in Mathematics

Low Income Student Growth
In Mathematics, students in the Low Income Subgroup demonstrated similar growth patterns as non-Low Income students
61% of all Low Income students demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on their Math MCAS tests
61% of non-Low Income students demonstrated Moderate to Very High growth on the same tests
36% LI students demonstrated High to Very High growth in Math as compared to 39% non-LI students
39% of Low Income and non-Low income students demonstrated Low Growth on Math tests
45% of Low Income students performed at the Advanced/Proficient levels vs. 78% of non-Low Income students

While performance is not where we would like it, students are demonstrating growth at a level comparable to their non-subgroup peers.


Special Education Student Growth
62% of all Sped students demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on their Math MCAS tests
39% of Sped students demonstrated High to Very High growth on Math tests
39% of Sped students demonstrated Low Growth on the Math MCAS tests
30% of Franklin Sped students performed at Advanced/Proficient levels on this test

While we continue to work toward closing the achievement gap, students are demonstrating growth at a level comparable to their non-subgroup peers.


Slide 20
The DESE uses several factors to identify comparable districts in the Commonwealth including student population, town demographics, performance, etc.
Graph identifies the ten towns the state compares with Franklin.

ELA Performance
In ELA, Franklin ranked 6th among the districts for % of Advanced/Proficient students (83%)
1- Wellesley 88%
2-Needham 87%
3-Westwood 86%
4-Andover 85%
5-Chelmsford 84%

Franklin ranked in the top 4 districts for lowest % of students scoring a Warning on Math MCAS tests
Behind Andover, Needham, and Westwood


Math Performance
In Math, Franklin ranked in the top half among the districts for % of Advanced/Proficient students (75%)
1-Andover 81%
2-Westwood 80%
3-Needham 79%
4-Natick-Wellesley 77%

Franklin’s % of students in the Warning performance level was similar to most districts in the comparison


Slide 21
The DLT also compared its performance in ELA and Mathematics with districts within the Hockomock League


ELA Performance
In ELA, Franklin ranked 3rd in the Hockomock League (tied with Mansfield) % of Advanced/Proficient students (83%)
1- King Philip 86%
2-Sharon 84%
3 – tie: Franklin/Mansfield 83%

Only 3% of students scored Warning in ELA

Math Performance
In Math, Franklin shared the top rank with Sharon for % of Advanced/Proficient students (75%)

Franklin also shared with Sharon the fewest number of students in the Warning performance level

Slide 22
The District Leadership Team also compared its performance in ELA and Mathematics with districts that have similar Per Pupil Expenditures


ELA Performance
In ELA, Franklin ranked 1st in the % of Advanced/Proficient students (83%) with the next highest district performing at 80% (Easton)

The district was tied with Easton for 1st in the lowest % of students scoring a Warning in ELA (3%)

Math Performance
In Math, Franklin also ranked #1 for % of Advanced/Proficient students (75%)
The next closest district, Easton, had 70% of students perform at this level )
Franklin also ranked the lowest for % of students at both the NI (19%) and Warning (6%) performance levels

Bottom Line - Franklin outperforms other districts with similar per pupil expenditures

Slide 23
The DLT finally compared its performance in ELA and Mathematics with the top 10 highest performing districts in the state


Performance
In ELA and Mathematics, Franklin ranked 10th of 11 districts in the % of students in Advanced/Proficient students
ELA 83%
Math 75%
Lowest Aggregate Student Growth Percentile (SGP) in Math
Top ½ for Sped SGP in Math
Bottom 3 districts for Aggregate and Sped SGP in ELA

Other Comparisons:
Franklin ranks 10th of the 11 districts
Franklin has the lowest Per Pupil Expenditure
Franklin has the lowest Student Growth Percentile in the Aggregate
Franklin has higher class sizes than high performance districts

Franklin ranks 5th in Professional Development expenditures
Franklin ranks 5th in its per teacher professional development expenditure

Bottom Line – Franklin puts $ were it counts - instruction

Slide 25
ELA Performance
The number of students performing in the Advanced/Proficient categories in ELA increase over time for the class of 2011
Grade 3 – 80%
Grade 10 – 90%

The number of students performing in the Needs Improvement/Warning Categories decreased for this class
Grade 3 – 20%
Grade 10 - 9%

Math Performance
The number of students performing in the Advanced/Proficient categories in Math increase over time for the class of 2011
Grade 4 – 66%
Grade 10 – 87%

The number of students performing in the Needs Improvement/Warning Categories decreased for this class
Grade 4 – 33%
Grade 10 - 13%


Slide 26
John/Abigail Adams Scholarship
114 of 414 high school seniors (September enrollment figures) were awarded the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship based on their Grade 10 MCAS performance. This award represents 27.5% of the senior class. Students qualified for this scholarship by scoring: (a) in the Advanced category in English Language Arts or Mathematics and Advanced or Proficient in the other subject area on the grade 10 MCAS assessments; and, (b) in the top 25% of the students in the district on these tests.

Performance/Growth Improvement
The number of 7th grade students who scored Advanced/Proficient in Math increased from 64% in 2009 to 73% in 2010
The number of 5th grade students who scored Advanced/Proficient in Science increased from 68% in 2009 to 74% in 2010
60% of students in our subgroups demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on Math MCAS Tests – Our Math initiatives are working
54% of students in our subgroups demonstrated Moderate to Very High Growth on ELA MCAS tests – Literacy work is making a difference.
CPI performances in both subgroups on both tests show slight improvements

Data Analysis
Data Warehouse use doubled in two years ( from 32 to 64 authorized users)
All department chairs, Reading Coaches, Math CET’s, coordinators, Head teachers, etc. are authorized users of Data Warehouse
MCAS and AYP data is analyzed at all levels – classroom, grade level, by discipline, building and district levels
Used to inform instruction, program, curriculum changes and revisions

District Initiatives to improve teaching and learning
Middle school math/sped PD – math co-teaching workshops & math consultant
Literacy & Leadership Teams – set PD goals - common instructional strategies, vocabulary, lab teachers/support & modeling, intensive PD
RtI team – vision and protocols for supporting struggling learners
DLT – analyze data, collect evidence of practice and district progress toward meeting DIP goals, recommendations for new DIP goals
Central Office support to schools in AYP Improvement status
Allocation of ARRA funds to all school to support building AYP/MCAS initiatives

Building Initiatives to improve teaching and learning
Comprehensive data analysis
Use of faculty meetings to address building issues & generate action plans
Instructional improvement plans to address AYP concerns
Revisions to School Improvement Plans
Fall testing to identify at risk students and provide instructional support/interventions
Analysis of end of unit math assessments to inform instruction and identify struggling students
Teacher before/after school study groups to look at student work and problem solve ways to improve student performance
Before and after school clubs, academic support sessions and tutoring
Aligning instructional strategies with student profiles (needs & strengths)
Teaching of test taking skills
Math/Reading support groups (additional academic support during the school day)
Software purchases to provide additional practice of foundational skills
MCAS skills reviews built into daily instruction
Progress monitoring of struggling students & more frequent communications (progress reports) to parents
Individual Student Success Plans K-8 (ISSP’s)
Educational Proficiency Plans (EPP’s) at the high school
Participation on DESE Assessment Development Committees

Slide 28
Class size – 24 districts in our comparison studies were contacted
Only 2 districts (Attleboro & Stougton) had larger class sizes at the elementary level
Only 2 districts (Mansfield & Attleboro) had larger class sizes at the middle level
Franklin had the highest class size at the high school
Considering the subgroup AYP concerns & increases in our LEP populations, class size is a considerable factor teachers’ ability to meet the needs of these students.l

Subgroups & AYP
District is working had to narrow the achievement gap & provide additional support before/during/after school for students with disabilities
several factors make this difficult: class size, length of school day, change in AYP target CPI scores every other year
targets will increase for the AYP determinations based on Spring 2011 MCAS test administrations
Increase performance expectations do not take into consideration severity of student disabilities, personnel required to provide adequate support structures

Budget & Instructional materials
No textbook line item in district budget – CI for requests
Ask/Purchase only minimum needed, knowing that other departments have needs as well
Loss of core curriculum teams now requires ELA, math, STE and HSS to cycle through a 5 year cycle with the UA disciplines
Common Core standards in Math & ELA will be vetted through professional groups & finalized this year.
Districts are expected to be prepared to fully implement these frameworks by the fall of 2012. We won’t have teams in place to do this work and meet these expectations
Spring MCAS 2012 – transitional test - will include some Common Core test items
Spring MCAS 2013 – tests will reflect Common Core standards ONLY (1 year transition to revised test)

Middle School Math
While we are making gains – growth percentiles are promising we still need to continue our efforts
Maintain academic support efforts (during and after school)
Tutoring
Math co-teaching model – Special Ed/General Ed initiative – share expertises
Aligning required math content with instructional strategies that complement each student’s learning style and needs.



Live reporting - MCAS - part 1

2. Guests/Presentations
b. MCAS Presentation – District Leadership Team

Sharon Jackson, computer teacher @ HMMS
Eileen Belastock, Math Dept. Chair @ FHS
Lucas Giguere, Assistant Principal @ ASMS
Margaret Miller, Head Teacher/Math CET @ DT
RuthAnn McHugh, Head Teacher/Math CET @ Keller



The presentation itself can be found here 

In addition to the representatives here tonight….
Bob Lima, Brenda Redding – FHS
Craig Williams - ASMS
Emily Constantine - HMMS
Janet Chitty, Keith Turner - RMS
Bea MacPherson, Shirley Babcock - DT
Judy Johnson - Jefferson
Mary Jane Wiles - Keller
Peggy Yanuskiewicz -  Kennedy
Courtney Reilly – Oak St.
Trish Capaldi – Parmenter
Denise Miller – Assistant to the Superintendent (and master data queen!)

Slide 3
The district made AYP in 2010 with no NCLB accountability status (a good thing)
District ELA performance was identified as Very High (all grades)
District Math performance was identified as High (all grades)
The district has made AYP for 5 consecutive years
The aggregate (all students) have made AYP in both Math & ELA for 8 consecutive years (since 2003)
District subgroups (Low Income & Special Ed) did not make ELA or Math AYP at the elementary and middle levels – this continues to be a focus area for the district (and is a consistent finding across the state).
FHS students in subgroups DID make AYP in both ELA and Math, an improvement over their 2009 performance in Math (did not make AYP in math in 2009)

Slide 4
The district continues to perform above the state in the Aggregate in ELA at all grades.
District performance averages 1 to 2 performance levels above that of the state on all ELA tests.

ELA Aggregate performance levels
83% of Franklin students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (68%)
Only 17% of Franklin students performed at the Needs Improvement/Warning level compared to that of the state (32%)
The percentage of students scoring in NI/W decreased markedly from 20% in 2009 to 9% in 2010.

Slide 5
The district continues to perform above the state in Subgroups (Low Income and Special Ed) in ELA at all grades.
Subgroup performance is consistently 1 performance level above that of the state on ELA tests.

ELA Special Ed Subgroup performance:
42% of Franklin Spec. Ed. students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (68%)
District and state data is consistent in the Needs Improvement category for Special Education subgroups (41% & 42% respectively)
However, fewer Special Ed students in the district performed in the warning category than the state (17% vs. 30%)
Special Education CPI’s (76.9 - Moderate) places this subgroup one performance level above that of the state (67.3 – Low)

ELA Low Income Subgroup performance:
55% of Franklin Low Income students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (47%)
District and state data is consistent in the Needs Improvement category for Low Income subgroups (36% & 37% respectively)
Fewer Low Income students in the district performed in the warning category than the state (9% vs. 16%)
The Low Income CPI (82.9 - High) places this subgroup one performance level above that of the state (76.5 – Moderate)

Slide 6
The district continues to perform above the state in the Aggregate in Math at all grades.
District performance averages 1 to 2 performance levels above that of the state on all Math tests.

Math Aggregate performance levels
75% of Franklin students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (59%)
25% of Franklin students performed at the Needs Improvement/Warning level compared to that of the state (42%)
The percentage of students scoring in NI/W showed a slight decrease from 26% in 2009 to 25% in 2010.

Slide 7
The district continues to perform above the state in Subgroups (Low Income and Special Ed) in Math at all grades.
Subgroup performance is consistently 1 performance level above that of the state on Math tests.

Math Special Ed Subgroup performance:
31% of Franklin Spec. Ed. students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (21%)
28% of Franklin Spec. Ed. students performed at Warning level compared to that of the state (45%)
District performance in the Needs Improvement/Warning category was 10% lower than that of the state (69% vs. 79%) – this continues to be a focus for the district.
Special Education CPI’s (66.7 - Low) places this subgroup one performance level above that of the state (57.5 – Very Low)
5 year trend shows district improvement in narrowing the achievement gap.

Math Low Income Subgroup performance:
46% of Franklin Low Income students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (37%)
District and state data is consistent in the Needs Improvement category for Low Income subgroups (36%)
Fewer Low Income students in the district performed in the warning category than the state (18% vs. 27%)
The Low Income CPI (75.1 - Moderate) places this subgroup one performance level above that of the state (67.1 – Low)
5 year trend shows district improvement in narrowing the achievement gap.

Slide 8
The district continues to perform above the state in the Aggregate on the high school Biology MCAS test.
Administered to all grade 9 students
District performance reflected 1 level above that of the state on the same test.
Biology CPI of 94.0 compared to that of the state (82.1)
Last 3 years, Advanced/Proficient performance increased; numbers of students performing at the Warning/Failing level has decreased.

Biology Aggregate performance levels
87% of Franklin students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (63%)
10% of Franklin students performed at the Needs Improvement/Warning level compared to that of the state (23%)
13 % of students scored in Warning/Failing category compared to 13% at the state level

Subgroup Performance
The district continues to perform above the state in Subgroups (Low Income and Special Ed) in Math at all grades.
Subgroup performance is consistently 1 performance level above that of the state on Math tests.

Biology Special Ed Subgroup performance:
31% of Franklin Spec. Ed. students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (21%)
28% of Franklin Spec. Ed. students performed at Warning level compared to that of the state (45%)
District performance in the Needs Improvement/Warning category was 10% lower than that of the state (69% vs. 79%) – this continues to be a focus for the district.
Special Education CPI’s (66.7 - Low) places this subgroup one performance level above that of the state (57.5 – Very Low)

Biology Low Income Subgroup performance:
46% of Franklin Low Income students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (37%)
District and state data is consistent in the Needs Improvement category for Low Income subgroups (36%)
Fewer Low Income students in the district performed in the warning category than the state (18% vs. 27%)
The Low Income CPI (75.1 - Moderate) places this subgroup one performance level above that of the state (67.1 – Low)

Slide 9
The district continues to perform above the state in the Aggregate on the 8th grade STE MCAS test.
District performance reflected 1 level above that of the state on the same test.
Gr 8 Science CPI of 83.2 compared to that of the state (71.0)
Last 3 years, little change in performances in all 4 categories – District STE Curriculum team investigating data to inform curriculum revisions/updates

Gr 8 STE Aggregate performance levels
69% of Franklin students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (40%)
33% of Franklin students performed at the Needs Improvement/Warning level compared to that of the state (41%)
Only 7% of students scored in Warning/Failing category compared to 19% at the state level

Gr 8 STE Subgroup Performance
The district Special Ed subgroup performed higher than the state in CPI’s (58.3 vs. 50.2) but at the same level as the state (Very Low)
The district Low Income subgroup performance level was one higher than that of the state (Low vs. Very Low). Again, this is a focus for the district and the STE Curriculum team.

19% of students with disabilities and 36% of LI students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to state subgroups (10% & 18%)
30% of special ed students performed at the Warning level compared to that of the state (51%)
19% of LI students performed at the Warning level compared to that of the state (37%)
Three years of subgroup data mimes the aggregate data - little change in % of students in each performance category at the district and the state levels – a concern for the district

Slide 10
The district continues to significantly outperform the state in the Aggregate on the 5th grade STE MCAS test.
District performance reflected 3 levels above that of the state on the same test.
Gr 5 Science CPI of 91.4 compared to that of the state (79.7)
Greatest change has been in shifting student performance from NI and Warning to Advanced/Proficient

Gr 5 STE Aggregate performance levels
74% of Franklin students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to that of the state (53%)
23% of Franklin students performed at the Needs Improvement/Warning level compared to that of the state (36%)
Only 3% of students scored in Warning/Failing category compared to 11% at the state level

Gr 5 STE Subgroup Performance
The district Special Ed subgroup CPI for STE was 75.0 - Moderate, reflecting 1 performance level above the state (CPI 62.3 – Low)
The district Low Income subgroup CPI of 81.3 reflects two performance levels above the state (CPI 65.6 – Low).

32% of students with disabilities and 47% of LI students performed at the Advanced/Proficient level compared to state subgroups (21% & 29%)
21% of special ed students performed at the Warning level compared to that of the state (34%)
11% of LI students performed at the Warning level compared to that of the state (23%)
Three years of subgroup data identifies slight increases in the Advanced/Proficient levels and slight decreases in the NI and Warning performance levels.



 Franklin, MA

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Franklin, MA: MCAS 2010 - presentation document

Take a few minutes this morning to preview the presentation on the MCAS results for the Franklin School District. This presentation is scheduled for discussion at the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Nov 16, 2010.

I am looking forward to the discussion, I like the layout of the data. It covers the major points on how we are doing and provides comparisons to the DESE districts most like us as well as to the Hockomock League schools.


What questions about this data would you ask on Tuesday night?

Note: email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the document.

Franklin, MA

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Franklin school earns state nod

Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:


via The Milford Daily News News RSS by GateHouse Media, Inc. on 10/5/10

Rep. Vallee visits school
Rep. James E. Vallee, D-Franklin, today congratulated students at Franklin's John F. Kennedy Elementary School with an assembly and an official citation for being named a "Commendation School" by the state's Department of Education.

Things you can do from here:

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

What does class size have to do with it?

For me, the best statement for the impact of class size on educational test results comes from Jane Hyman, the Jefferson Elementary School Principal,  in the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, Sep 14.


One group of students was in the 3rd grade two years ago. Only three class rooms available for this group resulted in high class size, the MCAS results showed they did not meet the AYP guidelines. 


Same group, the next year with four class rooms, they did meet the AYP guidelines (which also increased from year to year).


The same group, this year is back in three class rooms. With a return to large class sizes and the fear is that the AYP will not be met.


Franklin, MA

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Live reporting - AYP Update

2. Guests/Presentations
a. AYP Update
Maureen Sabolinski,  Michelle Kingsland-Smith


The MCAS Data was released today, posted to Schools website



2010 AYP Report to SC

The full report summary is shown here

There is good news in the report, no action items to really address.
The district remains at a high performance status.

There are areas that require work, Parmenter (ELL), Remington (year 1 of 2 in improving status)
Comprehensive plans (via the school improvement plans) to work on raising the performance.

The after school program will look to target the lower performing students for ELL and Math for after or before school. Individual student success plans to be developed and then work in small groups with teachers to get the extra help required.

Teachers to come from within the schools, positioned posted for teachers to apply to.

The MCAS bar is raising, 57% of the schools are in need of improvement against the standard. The bar will continue to raise until 2014. This is an increase from 53% in 2009.

We are teaching to the test. It is not a 'dirty term'. Those tests reflect the standards. We recognize the open response questions are what the students should be doing. We are also recognizing excellence in instruction.


Franklin, MA

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Live reporting - MCAS Report 2009

b. MCAS Presentation – Michele Kingsland-Smith; Beth Fitzmaurice

The full district report is shown here:
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io


The presentation will be updated later.

113 Franklin senior class students are Adams Scholarship winners.

State identified 13 schools with high growth and high performance. JF Kennedy School was one of the 13 schools.

Average Yearly Progress (AYP) the district has met the AYP standard in combined scores for all students. The district did not make AYP for ELA and Math subgroups in all cases for the various grade levels.

SPED subgroup doesn't meet AYP. Being looked at for special attention.
Individual student performance
Audit Curriculum alignment and instructional practices

The Dept of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is coming in to visit this week for a Coordinated Program Review

K-12 Response to Intervention (RtI)
District Data Team
Middle school Math Initiative
Middle school CET support
K-12 Literacy initiative


Sunday, November 1, 2009

"can track the growth in individual students’ achievement"

Nearly everyone can probably recall a teacher who lit their passion for poetry or who was able to help them connect all the dots in a seemingly incomprehensible algebra formula. We know that individual teachers can make a huge difference.

But public schools in America have been bent on ignoring the obvious: Almost nothing about the way we hire, evaluate, pay, or assign teachers to classrooms is designed to operate with that goal in mind. Most teachers receive only cursory performance evaluations, with virtually every teacher graded highly. We use a one-size-for-all salary structure, in which the only factors used in raises are teachers’ higher-education credentials and number of years in the system, neither of which is strongly linked to their effectiveness. And we often let seniority, rather than merit, drive decisions about where a teacher is placed. It is in many ways an industrial model that treats teachers as identical, interchangeable parts, when we know that they are not.
Now, increasingly challenging this status quo is a new wave of research showing that one can actually measure the difference a teacher makes. The studies use a statistical analysis of standardized test results to measure the “value added” that each teacher contributes each year, revealing stark differences in their ability to move a class forward. According to one recent value-added study of Los Angeles schools conducted by Harvard economist Tom Kane, having a good teacher for a single year translates to a 10-point-higher score on student achievement tests that use a standard 100-point scale. “That’s a big difference.” says Kane.
Read the full article in the Boston Globe here

This will likely be a topic of much discussion as the school year progresses. The new School Committee will be dealing with a tight budget and a teacher contract negotiation amongst other issues during the school year.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

In the News - BMI, MCAS

As the School Committee voted down the policy change by a 4-3 vote and 2 of the votes against this measure are leaving the committee, the next time this comes up could indeed be a different story.

Franklin school officials debate weighing students

from The Milford Daily News Homepage RSS 

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As mentioned here previously, the growth model for MCAS has been released.


State releases new way to evaluate MCAS scores



How Did Test Scores Become King?



Sent to you by Steve Sherlock via Google Reader:





via ASCD Inservice by ASCD Bloggers on 10/27/09

Post submitted by guest blogger Gerald Bracey. A longtime champion of accurate analysis of education research and vocal advocate for public education, Bracey died October 20, 2009. In my article in the November Educational Leadership ("The Big Tests: What Ends...



Things you can do from here:



Monday, October 26, 2009

In the News - MCAS growth model

One of the advantages of participating in regular School Committee, Town Council, and other Franklin business meetings you get to see and hear first hand what is happening. Franklin took part in the State pilot for the MCAS "growth model" that is being introduced tomorrow.


You can view the most recent meeting notes where this was discussed here.


The Milford Daily News covers this item from a Framingham perspective here:



State to unveil new MCAS interpretation model




Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Live reporting - MCAS Growth Model

d. MCAS Growth Model
      1. Michele Kingsland-Smith
      2. Bob Lima
      3. Maureen Sabolinski

The presentation used:
Franklin was part of the pilot at the State level to participate in this program. The State is gearing for some federal funds and this data pilot was a good step to gain that.

The comparisons amongst the students at a data level to compare apples to apples has not been available previously. This look at the data should help to answer this question.

The test is different year to year, the standards are different. Comparison year to year becomes difficult. How much grown really occurred in the learning? This could not be answered previously.

SGP - Student Growth Profile
CPI - Current Performance Index

One couldn't predict future performance from MCAS results. The value of the new growth model is that this growth can now be forecasted.

The MCAS scores enabled a comparison amongst the Franklin students. Now with the SGP, the comparison can be made statewide. This comparison can truly be made on a cohort statewide level.

Each year, the growth would be re-calculated to produce a new cohort based upon similar performance over three years of testing.

The score for the SGP would be calculated for every subject area in the MCAS environment.

20% rule of thumb, this breaks out the range of growth over 100% into five groupings: 1-19, 20-39, 40-59, 60-79, 80-99.

Data previously was descriptive, now the data can be predictive.

The data shown in the slides is from the pilot and not Franklin District student data.

What this allows us to do is ask questions. What we need to do is to ask the right questions?

This will be a learning year for the District. The Pilot was a great thing to benefit from.

Q - One challenge has been the bar has been raised year to year, does this also measure district growth?
A - You can do a district level report, by grade, by building, a variety of perspectives. At the moment we can only access Franklin data. The ability to do a district level analysis is possible but likely at the State level. What will be presented to the public is still open. We do not know yet. There is no definitive answer yet.

A - Anyone can take data and show issues with it. The strength of the data will be to allow us to show student growth and target assistence to specific groups of students.


Saturday, September 5, 2009

Bang for your buck

The Boston Globe "G" section has an interesting table depicting the performance of school districts (according to MCAS scores of the 4th and 10th grades) compared to the assessed home value. Franklin is amongst the top.

No real surprises there. Steve Whalen had put together a similar table and now that table is part of the Financial Planning Committee's report.

If the tax rate was use instead of assessed home values, Franklin would rise higher on the chart.

View the full chart here in the Globe

View the Financial Planning Committee report here