North Andover Makes the Grade on MCAS

The MCAS results are in, and the North Andover schools improved for the most part from last year and are meeting proficiency goals. And one elementary school stunned the district with a big improvement from last year.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education tests are administered in the spring as part of No Child Left Behind, a federal law that measures student performance and proficiency designed to ensure that students are learning their curriculum and keeping up in school.

Students are tested with MCAS annually in grades 3 through 8 as well as grade 10, and the results are calculated to produce a Composite Performance Index [CPI] to determine if schools are making Adequate Yearly Progress [AYP] toward the national target of 100 percent proficiency for all students by 2014.

What do the results show about North Andover?

• North Andover schools improved in the number of students who scored as advanced or proficient in math and English, and in grades 3, 5, 7 and 8, the number of proficient or advanced students increased in both those subjects from last year. Student in grade 6 improved in English.

• North Andover special education students – required NCLB to also meet AYP targets – remain the district's biggest challenge to achieving desired proficiency.

• Low-income students and racial minority students overall made significant improvements from last year.

• Two highlights of improvement from 2009 to 2010 were in grades 3 and 7. Third graders' proficiency levels rose from 68 percent 74 percent in math and 66 percent to 70 percent in English. And seventh graders' proficiency levels increased from 60 percent to 65 percent in math and 79 percent to 84 percent in English.

• Thomson Elementary School stands out this year, having demonstrated dramatic improvement in its scores. Last year, the school did not achieve AYP in any category, but this year it achieved AYP in every category in both math and English.

• North Andover High School students did very well. Their CPI is 97.4 percent in English and 93.1 percent in math. The state average for CPI at high schools is 75 percent in math and 78 percent in English.

"I am glad my son is a part of the improvement in the school," said Paula Fernandez, whose son Paul Fernandez is a second-grade student at Thomson Elementary School. She added that her son enjoys attending school there and that the improvement is because of the curriculum and teaching at Thomson.

Herman Benson, whose daughter is a third-grade student at Thomson, agrees. "There was much more homework [last year] than you would expect for a second grader, and it has obviously paid off," he said.

Thomson Elementary School Principal Gregg Gilligan was ecstatic about his school's improvement.

"I'm extremely proud of the students and especially the staff," Gilligan said. "I couldn't be more proud of the work the staff has done. They've always done a tremendous job, but I'm particularly proud this year."

Gilligan credits the cooperation teachers have with their students and the school system.

"It was definitely a team effort, and I think it was a combination of things," he said. "The students worked hard. We've had some new curriculum initiatives in North Andover. Teachers spent a lot of time looking at students' work together and spent a lot of time on professional development."

Thomson Elementary School is still in need of improvement, the MCAS results showed, and so is Atkinson Elementary School, which did not meet AYP this year. But Superintendent Chris Hottel issued a statement saying principals and teachers are working to provide resources to improve performance for next year.

But what meeting AYP does for Thomson is bring it a step closer to no longer being a choice school. If a school takes Title One funding and then doesn't meet AYP for two consecutive years, the school becomes a choice school, meaning parents can opt out of that school and send their children elsewhere in the district. Both Thomson and Atkinson schools receive Title One funds.

Gilligan, who has been with the school for three years, said that in his first year Thomson lost 28 students to other schools, and a few since then. If Thomson continues its improvement, it will be off the choice school list.