Foxborough School Committee Reviews MCAS Results

The Foxborough School Committee met on Monday to give a broad overview of the

Overall, Foxborough did very well, outperforming the state in proficient or better ratings.

Assistant Superintendent, Amy Berdos, presented a broad overview of the results which included touching upon performance level, student growth over time, and the composite performance index.

Overall in the English Language Arts (ELA) category, Foxborough continues to outperform the State.

"We might see plus or minuses but overall ELA has remained consistently strong over the last couple years," said Berdos. "We are seeing more children scoring in advanced and moving over the proficient hump."

Foxborough saw students in most grade levels perform in proficient-advanced since 2011 and those who did not either stayed the same or there was a one or two percent difference.

In the math performance categorary, Foxborough outperformed the State by 8 to 14 percent. Particularly, this past year in 2011 in grade 5, the town saw an 18 percent increase in performance for proficient-advanced. Over the last several years, Foxborough saw a 25 percent increase.

"Most of our grades here have improved for proficient-advanced in math. For those who did not, [they] stayed consistent or had a small percentage difference," noted Berdos.

In the science category, 50 percent of grade 5 scored proficient or advanced and in grade 8 and 10, Foxborough saw a higher performance than the State. Berdos noted that the science exams are viewed differently.

"We look at those test differently, as they are very different. 25 percent [is] life science, 25 percent physical science, 25 percent earth and space, and 25 percent technical standards; so it’s a very different test when students take that in grade 5 and 8. Those standards, depending when they are taught in their grades, makes it a very different test than what we see with ELA," said Berdos.

Berdos also gave an overview of how Foxborough will break down the data. One measure that the town will examine is student growth percentile and that of looking at that the relationship to a student and how they perform overtime. Foxborough will also look at their schools and district as a whole.

Foxborough will dissect cohort groups focusing on, for example, where their third graders were one year and how they did in grade 4 and so on. 

"One of the things that is important to focus on is where were we strong and do we continue to get stronger each year," noted Berdos. "We will see that with those groups." 

Berdos held up a colored table during the meeting to demonstrate the "cohort" data. She looked at Grade 3 in ELA and went back four years.

"60 percent were performing proficient-advanced, 65 percent the following year, 67 percent in the third year and 78 percent in the fourth year. Those are the trends we are looking for to see that our students are growing and that we are increasing their performance against themselves and the standards of the curriculum," said Berdos. 

Lastly, Foxborough measures the composite point (performance) index, going back many years and examining how the district is performing. The measure assigns a point value that becomes an indicator of how Foxborough is doing against their own performance.

Berdos also noted that teachers, department heads, and curriculum directors are looking at the data much more closely and viewing it through a lens of "collaborative inquiry."

This past summer, 12 teacher leaders, Berdos and Debra Spinelli, Superintendent, participated in a collaborative inquiry workshop focusing on data analysis. The workshop provided a common process for data analysis.

"Unleashing the power of collaborative inquiry. The way to do it is to dig in our heels together and having everyone understand what we can do together," said Spinelli.

School Committee members were equally impressed with the results and the new collaborative form of looking at data.

"When I look at what these kids have done and moved themselves up and over, first of all they know the tests count and looking at the growth and what we offer to them in two years, what is impressive is the math in 2009. We had 38 advanced and 32 proficient, grade 10 [we had] 63 advanced and 22 proficient; To wind up with 85 percent in advanced or proficient is impressive," said School Committee member Martha Slattery.

The School Committee will meet in November to provide a more in-depth analysis on the