TwiWORCESTER – Tuesday, September 19, 2023 – Today, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released annual accountability indicator data for all public schools and districts in the Commonwealth for the 2022-23 school year that ended June 30. The data are reflective of student scores on the annual Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam along with other indicators, such as student attendance, graduation rates, advanced coursework, and English language proficiency.
These are the first full accountability results DESE has released since 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic; partial accountability results were released last year without classifications.
As a district, the Worcester Public Schools was classified as “not requiring assistance or intervention.” WPS received a score of 41% for “making moderate progress toward targets.” Visit the DESE website to view the district’s entire MCAS data along with statewide data or more information on MCAS.
When it comes to areas of improvement, 16 Worcester Public Schools saw their overall accountability percentiles increase by 5 percentage points or more since 2019.
- The school with the strongest improvement was Chandler Magnet Elementary School, which increased by 19 percentage points.
- Lincoln Street Elementary, Lake View Elementary, and Nelson Place Elementary all tied for the second-highest increase with 16 percentage point increases.
- Sullivan Middle, Clark Street Community Elementary, Chandler Elementary, and University Park Campus School tied for the third-highest growth with 14 percentage point increases.
- The remaining schools also saw growth by 5 percentage points or more: Heard Street (13 points), Canterbury Street (10), Goddard (10), Burncoat Middle (6), May Street (6), City View (5), Columbus Park (5), and Grafton Street (5).
Additionally, the number of schools that were categorized as “requiring assistance or intervention” declined from 13 in 2019 to 10 in 2023. There were eight schools that demonstrated measurable improvement and exited this status: Burncoat Middle, Chandler Elementary, Chandler Magnet Elementary, City View Elementary, Clark Street Community Elementary, Goddard School of Science and Technology, Grafton Street Elementary, and Sullivan Middle.
Despite these successes, Worcester Public Schools’ district wide data show areas in need of improvement and ongoing achievement gaps for English learners and students with disabilities.
With some exceptions, overall, scores in the majority of categories have remained flat or only changed incrementally over the past three years following an initial decline after 2019. There were declines in grade 10 scores in particular.
“The accountability results are a barometer to understand areas of strength and opportunities for improvement,” said WPS Superintendent Rachel H. Monárrez. “Our priorities include placing a strong emphasis on elementary-level literacy, implementing actions to improve multilingual and special education services, and restructuring staff into ‘Quadrant Teams’ that spend more time in schools rather than district offices. We are also continuing to increase our family engagement efforts to foster greater family partnership in children’s learning.”
The 2022-23 MCAS data for WPS indicated the following:
- For grades 3-8, the percentages of students overall who met or exceeded expectations were: 27% for English language arts (vs. 27% in 2021-22 and 28% in 2020-21); 24% for math (vs. 23% in 2021-22 and 15% in 2020-21); and 25% for science (vs. 23% in 2021-22 and 21% in 2021-20).
- For grade 10, the percentage of students overall who met or exceeded expectations were: 36% for English language arts (vs. 39% in 2021-22 and 42% in 2021-20); 26% for math (vs. 27% in 2021-22 and 29% in 2020-21); and 22% for science for 2022-23 (vs. 24% in 2021-22; no data for 2021-20).
- English learners scored significantly behind students overall. For grades 3-8, the percentage of English learners who met or exceeded expectations in English language arts was 5% and for grade 10 it was 2%. For math in grades 3-8, it was 7% and for grade 10, it was 2%.
- Students with disabilities also scored significantly behind students overall. For grades 3-8 and grade 10, the percentage of students with disabilities who met or exceeded expectations in English language arts was 4% and 5% respectively. For math grades 3-8, it was 5% and for grade 10, it was 2%.
Worcester’s data reflect state and national trends showing flat growth in academic assessments following a drop in assessment scores during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, overall MCAS scores statewide have largely remained flat or seen incremental increases or decreases.
Nationally, the average eighth-grade student needs seven months to catch up on pre-pandemic reading levels, and nine months to recover to pre-pandemic math levels, according to a study by the Center for Reinventing Public Education released last week.
The Worcester Public Schools is taking the following steps to improve student academic performance:
- To address the need for improvements in elementary-level literacy, WPS has begun using the Core Knowledge Language Amplify (CKLA) reading curriculum this year, which is rooted in evidence-based science of reading and has a curriculum in Spanish. WPS stopped using the Fountas and Pinnell reading curriculum at the end of 2022-23.
- For multilingual learning and special education, WPS has contracted with American Institutes for Research (AIR) to audit and provide recommendations to guide future work toward substantially improving outcomes for these students.
- District-based educators and support staff have been restructured into Quadrant Teams, or “Q-Teams,” which result in spending more than 80% of their workdays in schools instead of district offices. These educators specialize in areas such as academics, educational technology, multilingual education, special education, mental health, and culture and climate.
- WPS launched the Family and Community Engagement Office earlier this year. The Office will continue to expand efforts to foster greater parental involvement in student learning and school culture, with a culturally and linguistically responsive focus to ensure families of all backgrounds are engaged.
- For the first time this year, all WPS schools will have at least one Wrap Around Coordinator to assist with wellness support and services for all students.
- WPS has launched the “Spark Plan” which places an emphasis on hands-on learning and ensuring students are future-ready amid rapidly advancing technology.
- Expansion of the Early College Program which allows high school students to take courses in conjunction with local universities for college credit. The students also receive the experiences of attending college campuses and envisioning themselves in higher education.