Silence on Dedham MCAS 2014 Results

To the Dedham Community,

While the MCAS results for the Dedham Public Schools have been released for over two weeks, there has been absolute silence from everyone. No announcements from principals or the school superintendent. No alarms or sense of urgency present from anyone. Take a look at the Dedham Public Schools website, and there is nothing about the MCAS 2014 results. All I hear is dead silence.

However, parents like me across Dedham opened envelopes this week to find their child’s results from the latest round of the state testing in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. Some of us were pleased. Many of us were horrified.

Digging deeper into the data, the Dedham community has serious cause for alarm. Every single elementary school is now at a Level 2, meaning that not one single elementary school is meeting the goals set out for it by the state.

Not worried yet? Consider just a few of the following data points:

• In 2014, the Student Growth Percentile (SGP) for fourth graders in English Language Arts is 28.5 indicating low growth. This means that the Dedham fourth graders scored lower than approximately 73% of their like peers in the state. The corresponding SGP in previous years was 56 in 2011, 44 in 2012, 35 in 2013. Note the decline. We will be in the lowest 10 percent in a few more years if the trend continues.
• How do our fourth grades do when compared to other districts? According to the annual ranking of school districts, in fourth grade English Language Arts, Dedham ranked 182 out of 299 districts. We didn’t make it even into the top half.
• In 2014, the Student Growth Percentile for seventh graders in English Language Arts is 37 also indicating low growth. The corresponding SGP in previous years was 56 in 2011, 46 in 2012, and 38 in 2013.
• In 2014, the SGP for tenth graders in English Language Arts is 31 indicating low growth. The corresponding SGP in previous years was 39 in 2011, 37 in 2011, 43 in 2012, and 31 in 2013.There was no growth.
  

Anyone with an elementary age child in the Dedham Public Schools will have seen the workbook curriculum that can plague your child’s school instruction in English language arts. Speaking from just my own experience, my children have had grammar, phonics, practice, and spelling workbooks. Children don’t learn to read and write by doing workbook pages. The writing curriculum is plagued by low expectations, that often take the form of test preparation and not real writing instruction. Tracking of students by levels at the elementary school is a poor practice that leaves those struggling with less access to the general education curriculum, and those at the top with more of the same and no real acceleration.

While the data in mathematics is more promising, we need to see sustained growth in English Language Arts. I implore Dedham parents to email every school committee member with your own stories and experience moving through the Dedham Public Schools. No need for us to be silent. I am looking forward to a school year full of increased reading and writing for all of our children.

Sincerely,
Margaret Whitfield

Emails of Dedham School Committee Members: http://www.dedham.k12.ma.us/pages/Dedham_Public_Schools/Admin/School_Com....

Email of Dedham Superintendent: mwelch@dedham.k12.ma.us