Low Growth on MCAS Leads To Testy Exchange Over Hoover Improvement Plan

A tense exchange over the Hoover School Improvement Plan arose at last week's School Committee meeting, when one member linked a trend of unsatisfactory growth in MCAS math scores at the middle school level to the elementary schools.

Given Melrose's socio-economic make-up, committee member J.D. LaRock said towards the end of a discussion with Hoover Principal Dr. Dennet Sidell and David Cyr,  a fifth grade teacher and member of the Hoover School Council that developed the improvement plan (PDF), that Melrose's math growth scores — a figure determined by comparing changes in a student's MCAS scores to changes in MCAS scores of other students with similar performance profiles — are comparable to scores expected in an urban school setting.

"My belief is the roots of that problem are in our elementary schools," he said to Sidell and Cyr. "I'm not willing as member of this board to wait three or four years. I think that neither of you are willing to wait."

Cyr asked in a shocked tone for LaRock to clarify that he was asserting that the middle school math scores were the result of the elementary schools.

"I just want to relay it to our staff," Cyr said incredulously.

"We're having an argument I'm not participating in," LaRock responded. "I'm trying to identify a problem around teaching and learning and not trying to personalize it ... I would encourage us to find ways and taking harder edged looks at the growth data that presents itself so far in the fifth grade."

Earlier in the meeting, Sidell addressed the lack of growth in fifth grade scores, telling committee members that "the amount of content we're asking fourth and fifth grade students to learn and teachers to teach is really overwhelming, when you look at how much they're supposed to cover."

To address that lack of growth, Sidell said that school officials need to examine what is developmentally appropriate curriculum for all grade levels, not just fifth grade, and take a holistic approach to the problem rather than targeting only one grade.  To that end, one of the School Improvement Plan's goals is for at least 70 percent of students in all grade levels to each achieve a "Growth Percentile," or growth score, of 40 percent or higher on both the Math and English-Language Arts MCAS tests next spring.

"The state is looking at 60 percent of students in (a Growth Percentile) 40 percent or higher," Sidell said. "Again, that's a good number to reach for. I expect things to improve."

Sidell also pointed out the overall improvement in MCAS scores since 2006, when only 20-50 percent of students scored in the proficient or higher categories and English scores for one grade were in the 40s. On last year's MCAS scores, students scoring proficient or higher on the math test were in the 60s-80s percent range and the grade with low English scores now has over 70 percent of students scoring proficient or better.

"I want to celebrate the hard work the staff has done working on grade levels and even across grade levels," he said. "That's substantial improvement in three years."

LaRock said he didn't want to diminish the successes gained at the Hoover School, but focused in the low growth in fifth grade scores on the most recent test results. Sidell responded that officials must take care not to project trends with limited data, pointing out that the previous year's scores had much better growth, but LaRock inquired to as why the most recent growth figures for the fifth grade were low.

Sidell reiterated his earlier point about the large amount of content that's expected to be taught at the fifth grade level and said that he hopes co-taught classrooms at the Hoover School, something that was also mentioned in the Melrose High School Improvement Plan, will produce better results.

"I think we need to prioritize for the fifth grade because of the amount of the curriculum they have," he said. "I don't want to take that score just in isolation. It's something we're looking at and concerned about. You'll find in the next few years we'll be moving up."

Cyr told LaRock that the goal regarding growth scores focused on all grade levels because the council felt it would set a "bad precedent" to target teachers "and say, 'it's your growth model." Instead, all teachers would take responsibility for scores both good and bad.

While taking care to say that he was not providing excuses, Cyr pointed out that this was the first full year of an implemented reading program in the fifth grade at the Hoover School; students in at-risk groups pulled out of class for additional help weren't receiving the fifth grade curriculum, something addressed through the co-teaching model; and that with Sidell's help, teachers now have an additional half hour during the day focused solely on writing instruction.

"We're not adverse to looking at ways to improve," he said. 

LaRock said he was not looking to force the Hoover to adopt any approach in particular and reiterated his support for approving the improvement plan, but said he saw a concern in the fifth grade and he was looking for "more than a very nebulous identification of the problem." To illustrate his concern, LaRock pointed to a group of students who had moderate growth in the fourth grade, but in the fifth grade that same group's growth scores plummeted.

"This is not about targeting teachers or pointing fingers at anyone," he said. "It's about identifying a problem and proposing a solution.  We also know we have a long-standing problem of math in particular when students move into the middle school. In my opinion, this is apparent in the fourth grade and exacerbates every year. At your school, that concerning pattern is sort of accelerated in the wrong direction in Grade 5."

Cyr responded, "I think that you're missing the point that our MCAS scores are good. The percentiles are lower. You can't isolate the growth scores ... you mentioned 'trend' several times. It's not a trend. It's only two years at this point."