Miles River Middle School Honored for MCAS Progress

The Miles River Middle School has been commended for narrowing the proficiency gaps between special education students and other students for MCAS scores over the past two years.

The announcement came on Tuesday as scores from spring testing were released.

Dr. Kay Scheidler, the district's curriculum director, said the overall high scores across the district show that teachers can focus less on preparing students specifically for the test and more on "high quality teaching and learning. "We don't need to be an MCAS-driven district," she said.

MCAS requires schools to meet "adequate yearly progress" by showing that students continue to increase their scores. That wasn't met for what's known as the "subgroup" of special education students at the Miles River Middle School and in English and language arts at the Buker Elementary School. But at Buker, it missed the mark by .3 percent.

The highlights included 90 percent of third graders being categorized as advanced or proficient and 93 percent of eight graders as advanced or proficient in English language arts.

Check back with Hamilton-Wenham Patch as were continue to analyze the scores.