MCAS Numbers Don't Add Up For Tewksbury Middle School Students
Wynn, Ryan improvement plans are all about the math.
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The principals from the John F. Ryan Upper Elementary School and the John W. Wynn Middle School presented their combined two-year improvement plan to the Tewksbury School Committee Wednesday night, and the focus from both schools was on improving disappointing MCAS math scores.
Tewksbury students in the fifth through eighth grades, particularly those with special education needs, are lagging far behind the state averages for MCAS math performance, according to Wynn School Principal John Weir and Ryan School Principal Kevin McIntyre.
Students from both schools have failed to meet the state's Adequate Yearly Performance (AYP) standards in MCAS math testing for three straight years, and bringing those scores up to par will be the focus of both schools' efforts in the coming year, according to McIntyre and Weir.
"It's a serious issue," said Tewksbury Superintendent of Schools Dr. John O'Connor. "The state has identified a number of school districts and a number of schools as chronically failing (to meet MCAS performance standards), and we're not there yet, but we're headed toward becoming an under-performing school district."
AYP standards compare a school district's annual MCAS scores against previous years' scores, and require that all school districts show year-to-year improvement in MCAS performance in both English Language Arts (ELA) and math testing. Wynn School students have met AYP targets on the ELA portion of the MCAS tests for five straight years, and Ryan School students have met AYP targets in ELA during four of the past five years.
Math, however, is a different story, as approximately half of the students in both the Wynn and Ryan schools performed below the proficient level on MCAS math tests administered in 2011.
"It's a critical issue," said School Committee member Jayne Miller. "Particularly because they are comparing us to the state average, and we still don't measure up."
State averages include data from larger cities like Boston, Springfield and Worcester, where chronically underperforming schools are prevalent, Miller pointed out.
"People don't buy (homes) in the suburbs to be on par with the rest of the state," Miller said. "Cities are incorporated in the state averages, but we live in Tewksbury so we should not be comparing ourselves to state averages. We should be comparing ourselves to like communities with similar profiles."
Increasing Scores District-Wide
At the root of the problem is the Tewksbury School District's special education department, where the numbers are worse than the district's aggregate averages. At the Wynn, 100 percent of the eighth grade special education students and 94 percent of the seventh grade special education students are performing below proficient levels on MCAS math tests. At the Ryan, 95 percent of all special ed students (in both fifth and sixth grades) are scoring below proficient levels on MCAS math tests.
A special education student is identified as any student who has had an Individual Education Plan (IEP) designed for him or her because of some level of learning disability. In Tewksbury, just under 20 percent of the town's student population is designated as special ed, but only a small percentage of those students have low cognitive abilities, officials said.
"Special ed kids range from low functioning, all the way up to superior IQs with a learning disability," Miller pointed out. "So there is no reason that every (special ed) kid in the eighth grade should be in need of improvement. No reason at all."
Math scores for Tewksbury's low income students are also problematic, as nearly two-thirds of the Ryan School's low income students are performing below proficient levels, and over 70 percent of the Wynn School's low income students' scores are below proficient. Approximately 13 percent of Tewksbury's student population is designated as low income.
Plans in the Works
The problem is not new to O'Connor, who was practically met at the door with the issue when he was hired in the summer of 2010.
"School improvement has been an issue since day one," said O'Connor, who pointed out that the school department has already taken steps to improve MCAS performance. In the fall of 2011 the department hired Richard Pelletier as its new Director of Student Services, and Pelletier has been working on revamping and improving the special education department since he arrived. Last September, the special ed department added two new full time case managers to develop and oversee IEP's for Tewksbury's special needs students.
The school department also launched a brand new math curriculum, known as Go Math, in grades one through five last September. Ryan School sixth graders will be included in the Go Math curriculum beginning this fall.
Miller called the new math curriculum a step in the right direction.
"The new math series is aligned with what they're expected to know (for MCAS testing) and when they're expected to know it," Miller said. "We should see a boost in scores this year, and certainly next year."
Weir and McIntyre also plan to continue their school's Study Island Problem of The Day (SIPod) program, which has challenged upper elementary and middle school students to answer over a million practice test questions since its inception last year. SiPod is a web-based application that allows students to work on MCAS-level math problems both in school and at home.
"When the kids do it at home it engages the parents," Miller said. "And it gives us lots of data. The teachers know how many questions they did, and what they are struggling with."
According to O'Connor, improving Math and ELA MCAS scores is one of the department's top priorities.
"We're here to educate our children, so student achievement is our primary mission," O'Connor said. "I want to see, over the next couple years, our overall student performance improve so that we eliminate the gap between the sub groups (special needs and low income) and the rest of our students. I want to see all of our kids performing at the same level. I want all kids in Tewksbury to exceed the state average."
In This article
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John F. Ryan School
135 Pleasant St, Tewksbury, MA -
Wynn Middle School
1 Griffin Way, Tewksbury, MA
Jon Pratt
9:08 am on Friday, March 16, 2012
No surprise there. DrO'Connor should visit the classroom . He wouldn't need to put his glasses on to see the problem. My child did not like math but Tewksbury method of teaching made her loath it except for Mrs Reagan class.
bk
10:43 am on Friday, March 16, 2012
Jon,
I do not understand what you mean by 'Tewksbury method'.
All,
We spend few hours every week with my child to help them with math.
This is not limited to helping them with home-work. We discuss usage in the
real life. There are some math concept we have to learn ourselves before we can
simplify and then make it interesting for my child. Teachers can do this and so also parents.
We, as a parents, also need to take an active interest in 'educating' them over their 'schooling'.
--B
Dirk Anderson
12:33 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
It worries me that we are not meeting a standard that many countries would call a joke. We aren't even hitting the state averages? These averages include cities like Lawrence and Lynn where large numbers of students do not speak English fluently. How far behind comperable towns like Wilmington and Billerica are we? When our top students are flocking to the local vocational school because they offer a better education, we have problems that new school buildings just won't fix.
Kumon Math and Reading Center of Tewksbury
1:15 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2012
This ought to be worrisome, given the global nature of our economy and the global competition our children will face. To see things in perspective, America ranks somewhere in the range 25 to 30 globally in math skills. So math standards we have set for ourselves is already low.
Kumon Math and Reading Center of Tewksbury
2:35 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2012
We should be thinking higher and beyond MCAS. We should be thinking about how we better prepare our children to compete in the global workforce? As President Obama pointed out recently that there are U.S. businesses eager to hire, but they simply can’t find American workers with the right skills.
malcolm nichols
9:12 am on Saturday, March 17, 2012
Perhaps a new Sports Complex will improve our math scores? Maybe another new school?
How about studying a few extra hours a day?
Russian School of Math has a great afternoon math tutoring progam in Andover.
Joe Bill
9:37 am on Saturday, March 17, 2012
Why does O'Connor still have a job??? This is an embarrassment. The bottom line is that educators are not held accountable for their performance and much of this can be attributed to unions. Until we can get rid of the underperforming teachers, the kids will continue to suffer.
RunningGreen
10:01 am on Saturday, March 17, 2012
That is somewhat unfair. O'Connor has only been here for two years. This is an issue that has been developing for much longer and will take much longer to fix. The problem lies with the school administrators who have been here and who haven't fostered a better learning environment. The fact is that no matter how new a high school is, how nice the athletic fields are, and how expensive the technology is, if a student is encouraged to only do mediocre work and not go beyond, you're always going to have the issue of kids not meeting education standards.
bk
12:30 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2012
I agree to RunningGreen.
In fact, I would thank O'Connor for actively pursuing improvement of the MCAS scores for the town by taking the new measures that are mentioned in this article " Plans in the works". Its at the individual teacher level that we have to create an incentive/penalty to show results.
Laura Boerman
11:14 am on Saturday, March 17, 2012
I've always thought that math tracking should start much earlier than 8th grade. This would group kids that need to go slower together so they don't get left behind and would help kids that excel at math achieve more. This setting every class to be 1/3 of each level is the issue more than anything.
malcolm nichols
12:17 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2012
It is the Parents fault their children do poorly.
bk
12:37 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2012
My child hardly gets time from his/her home work and other reading/activity.
It makes me wonder seeing so many kids idling in the "week days" near the Market Basket area. Where are their parent?. Do they do their job making sure their kids do their home work? If they need help?
We need to ask this ourselves before we blame teachers.
Kumon Math and Reading Center of Tewksbury
12:53 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2012
50 % agree with Malcolm. We as parents are equally responsible.
Kumon Math and Reading Center of Tewksbury
12:40 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2012
School performance absolutely needs to be improved. Best learning happens at school where a child spends good 6 to 7 hours each day. And Tewksbury town's overall MCAS rating is very poor. Parents need to take more active role in their children's studies. Are their children getting adequate homework from school? Daily practice makes a huge difference. We as parents need to get more involved with schools and expect high standards since we are paying for it. There is no better investment than investing time and money into our children's education.
bk
12:13 pm on Monday, March 19, 2012
Very well said
Jon Pratt
1:47 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2012
bk
I found this out thru my kids going thru the system that the teachers push the kids thru. My kids' teacher said they're doing fine not to worry. My kids are average students. By time sixth grade came they hit a wall and struggled thru 8th grade. It was a frustrating experience as the kids struggled not for a lack of teacher subject knowledge but instructional effectiveness.Tried working with the teachers but they didn't have the same urgency that I did.
Found a good tudor to right the ship.
StephFace
3:18 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2012
I would bet that this situation improves soon. In the last few years, both of these schools have promoted very good math teachers to vice principal positions (Ryan- Reagan, Wynn- Cummings). Let's hope their expertise can help lead these schools to success.
bk
12:18 pm on Monday, March 19, 2012
Create an incentive for teachers.
Reward teachers who show result.
Bob
8:56 am on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
bk, I agree with one caveat. We need to punish/fire teachers who are not doing their job. My son has been lucky in that he has had some great teachers. Mrs. Yore was one he worried about before he got into her class. He heard she was tough. She was! AND fair and supportive and all the other things a great teacher should be. To this day she corrects him on his English when she sees him.
My daughter has not been as lucky. She had some great ones and some horrid. When we went to the schools (Dewing and Ryan) they threw up their hands and said "we can't do anything". Two bad teachers almost made her hate school.
Patriot
4:17 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2012
Maybe if the kids did not switch schools every two years the district could identify at risk students earlier. Students are being pushed out so quickly at each stop they do not have enough time to worry about the kids who need the most help. Two years gives the teachers or the admin enough tine to identify, never mind remediate.
jo
9:15 am on Sunday, March 18, 2012
I am wondering what role the school committee has in this process. I know of at least 4 teachers who left Tewksbury to take positions elsewhere due to the uncertainty of the support of the school committee, although I believe that Mr O'Neill and Mr. Kelley were the biggest morale killers. I do know that the action which laid everybody off and then hired people back "part-time" had a negative impact on teachers who were looking for long careers here.
The teachers that I am aware of that left have done quite well in advancing in their careers.
pmitchell
1:54 pm on Sunday, March 18, 2012
The teachers in this town have been beaten to death for years. Mr. Kelly and Mr. O'Neil put the final nail in the coffin. It is diffcult to be upbeat and productive when you are so disrespected. Not to mention all the trouble they have caused with the tech school.
Jon Pratt
6:33 pm on Sunday, March 18, 2012
ts funny the teachers made out in the O'Neil manifesto
Teachers got to torture the kids at the HS - weren't going to write recommendation etc
Spent less time teaching - since the town gave in gave the teacher were retroactiive 800K in back pay for work not perofrmed
teachers offered parents to tutor their kids for money because 30mins cut back a day
I guess Mr O'Neil wasn't the smartest guy in the room. He was outsmarted by the ones he thought weren't as sharp.
Plus they did get that time back for retirement years.
Point being the teachers as a union group schooled the school committee
pmitchell
7:01 pm on Sunday, March 18, 2012
Good for them........they deserved it after what they put them through!!! Didn't Mr. O'Neil work for the teacher's union for a while???
steve123
10:41 pm on Sunday, March 18, 2012
I grew up in Tewksbury and can tell you I would NEVER raise my family there. The residents just don't seem to get it regarding the importance of the schools performing. If I lived there I would be at the doors of every education leader on a daily basis until things and if things don't change soon pack your bags and get out of there as soon as possible. If half the students are performing at below average it is most likely a problem at the school not the home. Instead of building new police stations, libraries, senior centers, you really need to put your dollars into the schools!! DEMAND them to be accountable with results.
bk
12:27 pm on Monday, March 19, 2012
"Instead of building new police stations, libraries, senior centers, you really need to put your dollars into the schools!! DEMAND them to be accountable with results."
I agree with steve123.
Where we put our money shows our priorities.
When parents value importance of education their kids would feel the same.
Would it help the current residents that people start leaving the town because of the bad school system. What will be the effect on their biggest investment... their house value.
I am going to vote for any person who is going to improve towns school system.
--BK
john carroll
4:08 pm on Monday, March 19, 2012
My nephew goes to school from 8 to 4 and he is in the third grade. The extended day provides him with an opportunity to become fluent in Chinese. All WE are looking for is proficiency. If we ever tried to put any extended day in this town, we would be hung out to dry. It would interfere with sports!!!!!!!!!!! You would hear parents screaming from the rafters. Let's get our priorities straight!!!! I don't want to hear about how they teach for the test. The state has determined what children in MA should know at certain grade levels.........and we should be sure that they comply because everyone is measured by the same set of standards with MCAS. Every child who is not proficient should be "provided" with a manditory extended day. Parents want happy children...............even though that is not necessarily what best educates them.
Jon Pratt
7:59 am on Monday, March 19, 2012
Overall the school does a good job with 75% of the students the other25% of students can be a real challange due to the fact if the kids dont want to learn you probably cant make them. Problem with its a reflection on teachers and the school.
This the biggest issue of having two tracks in the those who do and those who do.Mixing both doesn't work for either group.
Jon Pratt
9:30 am on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
I think BK hits the nail on the head - you roll the dice with your kids' future. You don't know what experience your going to get. Since you only get one shot at this. Being emotionally fragile a school age child will shut down and refuse to do school work if the climate in the classroom is toxic. So as a parent you get to fight with your child ,teacher and administration to find a workable solution and all you hear are crickets. All I know Tewksbury Schools has an image problem not does not necessary reflects the efforts of most.
Kumon Math and Reading Center of Tewksbury
9:39 am on Thursday, March 22, 2012
We wish all students best of luck for their upcoming MCAS tests. Don't be nervous. Don't be over confident. Just give it your best!