Scores Improve on MCAS Test

High School Tops State Average in Both Math and English; Lower
Grades Also See Strong Exam Results

By ALEXIS TONTI

The results are in from the spring round of MCAS testing, and
students at the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School again
posted strong scores on the rigorous exam required by the state for
graduation.

Ninety-two per cent of Vineyard high school sophomores passed the
English exam, while 94 per cent passed the math exam, surpassing
statewide averages.

"I'm thrilled with how the kids did, especially with
mathematics - there was incredible improvement," Vineyard
high school principal Margaret (Peg) Regan said yesterday. "We had
more kids score in the advanced level and more come out of the failure
level into the needs improvement level.

"Now we want to see them push themselves harder," she
declared.

The results of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System
were released by the state Department of Education on Thursday.

High school juniors now have three more chances to pass the test
before receiving their diplomas in 2006.

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Massachusetts uses a four-tier scoring system for the MCAS exams.
Students who score in the top three tiers - advanced, proficient
and in need of improvement - pass the exam, while students who
fall into the fourth tier fail.

Mrs. Regan noted that while the overall results for the high school
are good, there was some backsliding by students from the proficient
level into the needs improvement level. She said the shift may be the
result of students doing only as well as they need to to meet graduation
requirements.

"We need to come up with a reason for them to want to push
themselves to that next level. Our SAT scores are continuing to climb,
so that shows that when there is a personal stake in the score the kids
do very well," Mrs. Regan said.

"We need to look at local incentives for kids getting into the
proficient and advanced areas. Some state colleges offer scholarship
money for kids who do well, but that's about it," she said.

"It is really something that our school council needs to talk
about more and our school committee needs to be informed about,"
she added.

The MCAS was first administered in 1998, but this is only the third
year that students must pass the test to graduate from high school.
Students in the third through eighth grades Islandwide also take MCAS
subject tests. Their scores are used by Vineyard educators to gauge
student proficiency in the context of the state's prescribed
curriculum.

The MCAS exams are also used as a tool by the state to demonstrate
compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which calls on
schools to show annual academic progress with their students.

The federal law, passed three years ago, requires that all students
test at a proficient level on the MCAS exams by 2014.

Looking at the high school scores, it is clear there is work to do
to bring students in line with the stricter federal standard: Six per
cent of the 204 sophomores tested failed the math exam, with 24 per cent
needing improvement. Eight per cent of the 203 students tested failed
the English test, with 26 per cent needing improvement.

Mrs. Regan said that while the change in requirements is still a
decade away, the Vineyard schools must work now to bring all students up
to the advanced or proficient levels.

"It's our mission for the year," she said.

This year students who speak English as a second language were
required to take the exam because of changes in state and federal law.
Previously, students with limited English speaking skills received
exemptions.

That change may be responsible for the drop in the English scores of
fourth-graders in the down-Island schools. Eight per cent of Edgartown
students failed the exam; six per cent of Oak Bluffs students failed and
eight per cent of Tisbury students failed.

Comparisons from one year to the next are difficult because a
different set of students is tested each time, but in this case the
change is striking: No elementary students in the down-Island schools
failed the English test last year.

The fourth-grade English results were about on par with the same
students' performances in math. Six per cent of Edgartown students
failed, six per cent of Oak Bluffs students failed and five per cent of
Tisbury students failed.

For two of the schools, the results mark an improvement: last year
Edgartown saw 14 per cents of its students fail, while Tisbury had 10
per cent fail. Oak Bluffs, however, had no students fail the test last
year.

Up-Island, no West Tisbury students failed the English test, and
nine per cent failed the math test. Too few were tested in Chilmark or
the charter school to be statistically significant.

Seventh grade English test takers posted a stronger performance,
with none failing in Edgartown, Tisbury or West Tisbury and only two per
cent failing in Oak Bluffs. The charter school also had no failures.

Eighth grade students overall were shaky in math.

In Edgartown 60 per cent of students either failed or rated as
needing improvement; in Oak Bluffs 48 per cent of students fell into
those categories, while in Tisbury the number was 30 per cent. In West
Tisbury 34 per cent of students fell into those categories, along with
28 per cent of students at the charter school.