Melrose's 2011 MCAS Results: 8 Things To Know

The results of the 2011 MCAS exams were released this week. District-wide results are available here. School-by-school results can be seen by going to the previous link; choosing a school from the drop down box on the upper-right hand of the page; and clicking the "Assessment tab."

Here are eight things that stand out in Melrose's results:

1. Most Schools—in Melrose and Massachusetts—Short of Progress Benchmarks

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which uses standardized test scores to measure students' progress towards meeting the federal goal of having all students test as proficient in reading and math by 2014.

Most Melrose Schools missed meeting those federal progress benchmarks—as did the vast majority of schools across Massachusetts, with 82 percent of the state’s schools and 91 percent of school districts missing performance targets, according to the Boston Globe.

Two Melrose schools—the Hoover and Horace Mann Elementary Schools—have made AYP for all students in the aggregate and all student subgroups, in both English-Language Arts and in math, every year since 2004, only to fall short this year.

Here are the school-by-school results for meeting AYP this year; click on each school name to view its AYP results back to 2004 and a breakdown of performance by subgroup:

2. Melrose High School Slips in Math, Science

sophomores continued to perform at a high level in on MCAS English exam, with 89 percent of students scoring proficient or advanced on the exam, the same percentage as last year.

However, performance on the math and science 10th Grade MCAS exams slipped slightly this year.

In math, 77 percent of sophomores scored proficient or advanced, down 5 percentage points from last year.

In science, 60 percent of sophomores scored proficient or advanced, down 10 percentage points from last year.

3. More 7th and 8th Graders Scoring Advanced in Math

More 7th and 8th graders scored in the advanced category on their MCAS exams this year.

In the 7th grade, 23 percent of students scored advanced in math, up 9 percentage points from last year. Overall, 61 percent of students scored advanced or proficient, up 5 percentage points from last year.

In the 8th grade, 25 percent of students scored advanced in math, up 7 percentage points from 18 last year. Overall, up 8 percentage points from last year.

However, 6th grade performance in math did slip, with 65 percent of students scoring advanced or proficient, down 6 percentage points from last year.

4. Drops in Hoover 3rd Graders Scoring Advanced, But Passing Scores Steady

While the repeated its markedly improved performance on the 5th Grade English and math exams from a year ago, two grades lower, the school saw a noticeable drop off in 3rd graders scoring advanced—although not much change in 3rd graders scoring needs improvement or warning.

On the 3rd grade math exam, only 7 percent of Hoover students scored advanced. In the three preceding years, that number was 36 percent, 40 percent and 31 percent.

Most of those scores, however, dropped no lower than the proficient category. Overall, 77 percent of Hoover 3rd graders scored advanced or proficient, down 2 percentage points from last year.

On the 3rd grade English exam, 11 percent of Hoover students scored advanced, down 15 percentage points from last year. As on the math exam, most of those scores dropped into the proficient category, with 68 percent of students scoring advanced or proficient, down 3 percentage points from last year.

5. Lincoln Meets Progress Benchmarks

The big news at the this year, as previously reported, is that the school , in both English-Language Arts and math—something that hasn't happened since 2007.

In terms of scores, Lincoln saw improvement on its 4th grade math and 5th grade English results, but saw a drop off on its 5th grade science scores.

On the 4th grade math exam, 52 percent of Lincoln students scored advanced or proficient, up 10 percentage points from last year.

On the 5th grade English exam, 75 percent of Lincoln students scored advanced or proficient, up 4 percentage points from last year.

On the 5th grade science exam, 52 percent of Lincoln students scored advanced or proficient, down 11 percentage points from last year.

6. Improvement in Horace Mann 4th Grade Performance, Drops in 5th Grade

The saw fewer 5th graders scoring advanced or proficient and more 5th graders scoring needs improvement, while seeing the opposite trend in the 4th grade.

On the 4th grade English exam, 73 percent of Horace Mann students scored advanced or proficient, up 15 percentage points over last year. Meanwhile, 18 percent of students scored needs improvement, cutting that number in half from last year.

On the 4th grade math exam, 61 percent of Horace Mann students scored advanced  or proficient, also up 15 percentage points over last year. The percentage of students scoring needs improvement dropped 16 points from last year.

On the 5th grade math exam, 41 percent of Horace Mann students scored needs improvement, up 20 percentage points form last year, Overall, 47 percent of students scored advanced or proficient, down 27 percentage points from last year.

On the 5th grade English exam, 35 percent of Horace Mann students scored needs improvement, up 18 percentage points from last year. Overall, 63 percent of students scored advanced or proficient, down 20 percentage points from last year.

On the 5th grade science exam, 12 percent of Horace Mann students scored warning, compared to none last year, and 41 percent scored needs improvement, up 5 percentage points from last year. Overall, 47 percent of students scored advanced or proficient, down 17 percentage points from last year.

7. Roosevelt Scores Continue Upward 5th Grade Trend, Downward 3rd Grade Advanced Trend

The saw its recent trend of improved 5th grader performance on the math and English exams.

In 5th grade math, 78 percent of Roosevelt students scored advanced or proficient, up 27 percentage points from last year.

In 5th grade English, 84 percent of Roosevelt students scored advanced or proficient, up 16 percentage points from last year.

However, the percentage of Roosevelt 3rd graders scoring advanced on their MCAS exams continued to fall, as it has every year since 2008.

In 3rd grade math, 27 percent of Roosevelt students scored advanced, down 13 percentage points from last year. On the other hand, 68 percent of students scored advanced or proficient on that test, up 1 percentage point from last year.

In 3rd grade English, 7 percent of Roosevelt students scored advanced, down 8 percentage points from last year. Overall, 66 percent of students scored advanced or proficient on that test, down 5 percentage points from last year.

8. Winthrop 5th Grade Improves, 3rd Grade Math Drops

At the , 5th grade MCAS scores showed improvement in all three tested subjects over last year, while 3rd grade math scores showed an increase in students scoring needs improvement.

In 5th grade English, 88 percent of Winthrop students scored advanced or proficient, up 11 percentage points over last year.

In 5th grade math, 84 percent of Winthrop students scored advanced or proficient, up 12 percentage points over last year.

In 5th grade science, 81 percent of Winthrop students scored advanced or proficient, up 14 percentage points over last year.

On the 3rd grade math exam, 21 percent of students scored needs improvement, up 11 percentage points over last year.