The Bromfield School was the only public high school in Massachusetts to achieve a 100 percent passing rate on its MCAS scores two years in a row, interim Superintendent Joe Connelly told the School Committee Monday. For the second time, 100 percent of Bromfield tenth-graders passed the English/language arts section of the test.
Connelly and principals Jim O'Shea and Linda Dwight presented the School Committee with a report on the 2011 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System scores for Harvard students on Nov. 28.
Acknowledging that Harvard had once again done very well on the state testing program, Connelly said, "But that is not why you test students." He said that the staffs of both Bromfield and the Hildreth Elementary School were studying the results to see what the schools can do better.
Dwight and O'Shea gave a joint presentation, interpreting the various measures of progress.
Bromfield Principal O'Shea pointed out the rising scores from third grade to tenth grade.
"The longer [students] are in Harvard schools," he said, "the better they perform."
He explained that success on the MCAS depends in large part on aligning the schools' curriculum with the state frameworks.
Hildreth Elementary Principal Dwight noted that Harvard students consistently score higher on the English/language arts portion of the test than on the mathematics portion. Those results are common in districts where students have a lot of exposure to books and reading at home, she said.
Dwight described the elementary math program in Harvard as emphasizing a deep understanding of concepts, rather than broader coverage. The trade-off is lower scores in the early grades, she said, but the pay-off comes later. Over the past several years, about 70 percent of Harvard elementary students have scored at the proficient or advanced level in math.
As part of a plan to help students improve in math, Dwight said that the first step is to check the district's alignment with state curriculum.
"We have to improve what we are aiming at, for students to be successful," she said.
Another effort will be to involve parents in math learning at a level closer to their current involvement in reading and language arts. Dwight said teachers will be connecting to web-based programs where parents can help children check in for practice and reinforcement. She said that Boxborough's math scores "blow us out," and she is looking to see what Harvard can learn from its neighboring system, rather than trying to "reinvent the wheel."
Both Dwight and Connelly emphasized Harvard's success in again achieving "adequate yearly progress" in all areas. Connelly pointed out that, as a school moves closer and closer to top levels of achievement, showing year-to-year progress becomes ever more challenging.
Looking at a different measure of achievement, O'Shea said that Bromfield students score in the 600s on the SATS, about 90 points higher than the state average. Massachusetts, in turn, scores at or near the top in the nation on those tests. He also expressed pride in Bromfield students' high level of participation in advanced placement courses. (See sidebar)
After hearing the report, School Committee chairman Keith Cheveralls suggested giving some version of the report to George Ramirez, MassDevelopment's executive vice president for Devens operations. Ramirez could present the information to MassDevelopment executives in Boston, Cheveralls said.
Money from MassDevelopment's contract with Harvard to educate the Devens students contributes substantially to the operating costs for the Harvard schools.