Framingham Supt. On District's 2013 MCAS Results

The following is a press release from Framingham Superintendent of Schools Stacy Scott:

Recently released MCAS student performance results for 2013 show continued progress for Framingham Public Schools (FPS) overall.

Student Growth Percentiles (SGP) is Massachusetts’ measure of students’ individual progress over time.

In Math, Framingham’s SGP increased district-wide overall by eight percentiles. In particular, grades five and six made significant increases, with grade five increasing by 12 percentiles and grade six by 24 percentiles as compared to other students across The Commonwealth.

In ELA, SGP overall grew by 6 percentiles from 46th to 52nd, placing Framingham above the median for the state.

There are many individual success stories to tell. These stories demonstrate the hard work of staff in focusing on what really matters: setting high expectations and maintaining high standards to support the high performance of all of our students. We are very proud of the performance of our students and the improvements of our team. 

Framingham High: The High School continues to outperform all of our State comparison (DART) districts. The High School exceeds Annual Yearly Progress targets for proficiency in all subgroups. The extraordinary performance of the High School is self-evident in the high proficiency rates of students in the Advanced and Proficient categories: Science, Technology and Engineering (STE) – 89%; ELA – 94%; and, Math – 88%.
Their CPI (Composite Performance Index) scores are 96.1 STE, 98.0 ELA and 94.3 Math. These scores are very strong, calculated out of 100 from a variety of variables measuring performance in each area and subgroup.

 The overall aggregate dropout rate at FHS was reduced from 2.8% to 2.4%. In one year, the ELL dropout rate was reduced from 7.7% to 5.9%. The 5-year Cohort Graduation Rate for ELLs improved from 64.9% to 73.8%.

Framingham High School’s accountability level dropped to Level Three, impacted by low participation in the new science test given for the first time to ESL students. An appeal has been filed regarding the Level Three status for the High School with firm hopes that Level Three status will be upgraded.

Thayer Campus had 10 students take the MCAS Biology exam; all 10 of them successfully passed the exam. They also had 8 students take the 10th Grade ELA exam; all 8 of them successfully passed the exam. Some of these students had attempted these exams multiple times in the past. This 100% passing rate is unprecedented, and deserving of high praise for the work our Thayer Campus faculty have invested.

Elementary Schools

Potter Road Elementary scores for Proficient and Advanced in ELA made dramatic gains in 5th grade from 69% to 92%; Math improved from 53% to 59% Proficient and Advanced. Potter Road’s grade five students demonstrated dramatic increased performance gains, with 78% of their fifth grade students in the Proficient and Advanced category in Science. 

Dunning Elementary successfully maintained its unique Level One status for a second year. Dunning increased the combined Advanced & Proficient categories in grade four ELA by 16% and decreased the percentage of students in the Needs Improvement category by 18%. Dunning achieved combined Proficient and Advanced scores of 66% and 63% in ELA and Math, respectively. 

Improvements in Math at Brophy were significant, especially in the 3rd grade where Proficient and Advanced scores climbed from 29% to 57%.
 In grade three, Brophy Elementary increased the percentage of students in combined Math Advanced & Proficient categories by an impressive 28%, mirroring their decreased percentage of students in Needs Improvement & Warning/Failing categories by 28%.
Also, across all grades Brophy Elementary School successfully showed a significant decrease in the combined Needs Improvement & Warning/Failing categories by 9%. The numbers of students in the Warning category in Math decreased at all grade levels.

Similar to Wilson in third grade mathematics, Brophy decreased the number of students in the combined Needs Improvement and Warning/Failing categories by over 10%. In grade three Math, Wilson Elementary students made impressive shifts in the combined Advanced & Proficient categories, increasing by 17%. Also, in Math for grades three and five, Wilson decreased their numbers of students in Warning significantly by 19 and 20 points, respectively.

In Math overall, Wilson increased the percentage of students in the combined Advanced & Proficient categories by 13% and decreased the combined Needs Improvement and Warning/Failing categories also by 13%. In fact, Wilson students showed improvement in every math area measured. Wilson also demonstrated improvement for their Special Need students who hit their benchmarks in Math and ELA.

Hemenway Elementary moved from a Level I to a Level II status. 5th grade scores gained more ground from 83% to 88% in Proficient and Advanced levels in Math. While Hemenway maintains the highest proficiency ratings of all of our elementary schools, their proficiency levels dipped in ELA and Math in 3rd and 4th grades. Not meeting growth scores for each subgroup impacted Hemenway’s accountability rating.

McCarthy Elementary made progress in 5th grade ELA in the combined Proficient and Advanced categories increasing by 6% and decreasing numbers in Needs Improvement by 5%. McCarthy scores in Proficient and Advanced increased in 5th grade from 53% to 58% in ELA and 42% to 48% in Math. McCarthy’s accountability status slipped from Level II to Level III. 

Barbieri Elementary succeeded in reaching its target for the subgroup Students With Disability reaching a celebrated proficiency rate of 75%. Barbieri continued its steady progress in 3rd grade Math rising from 35% to 44% from 2011 to 2013. Barbieri’s Student Growth Percentiles were greatly improved in Math and Science. Barbieri’s Grade 4 Long Composition performance was high compared to the District and the State.

Stapleton Elementary saw increases in its 3rd grade SGP in Math. Stapleton scores in 5th grade ELA and Math Proficient and Advanced had mixed results. Its most improved area was 3rd grade Math where scores rose from 43% to 48% Proficient and Advanced.

Middle Schools

Cameron Middle demonstrated high growth in its SGP in all areas. The focus on Open Response questions yielded noticeable improvements. Cameron achieved 65% combined performance in Proficient and Advanced in ELA overall.

 Fuller Middle increased its overall percent Proficient and Advanced in Math from 35% to 43%. 8th grade proficiency rate for Fuller is at 70% for ELA.

Walsh Middle increased in SGP across the board in all grades. The numbers of Proficient students increased consistently and the number of students in Needs Improvement decreased in all grades in Math and ELA.Overall Scores

Based on preliminary data, students made achievement gains in performance in the combined Advanced & Proficient categories for Math district-wide, showing improvement for 2012 to 2013 from 50% to 54%. Substantial gains were made in grade six with a 10% increase, grade five with a 6% increase, and grade three with an impressive 5% increase in the combined Advanced & Proficient categories.

Unfortunately, the district-wide 2013 MCAS results in ELA showed a slight dip of 3% in the combined percent of students in Advanced & Proficient categories, falling from 52% to 49%. In grade three ELA, there was a decrease of 10% in the combined Advanced & Proficient categories. Grade five improved 6% in the combined Advanced & Proficient categories.

Significant gains in performance have been demonstrated throughout Framingham schools.

We continue to double our efforts and prepare for dramatic improvements in the future.

Editor's Note: First published at 6:15 p.m. Updated with links at 8:42 p.m.