Improving and declining districts

Here are the schools whose 10th grade scores improved or declined the most from 2003 to 2004. Results for both years include scores of many limited-English students who previously were exempted from testing, but began taking MCAS in 2003 to comply with changes mandated by state and federal law. Some severely disabled students took a portfolio-based alternate assessment. Source: Boston Globe, from Mass. Department of Education data.

Most improved

These districts improved at least 5 percentage points in their MCAS passing rates for both grade 10 English and math, compared with the previous year.

District	English Passing %		Math Passing %
	2004	2003	2004	2003
South Shore Charter, Hull	100	84	100	63
Winchendon	90	79	86	66
West Springfield	90	80	91	73
Westport	89	79	81	69
Revere	89	80	81	68
Health Careers Academy Charter, Boston	97	89	79	62
Montachusett Vocational, Fitchburg	90	83	78	72
Webster	92	85	78	73
Assabet Valley Vocational, Marlborough	87	81	75	61
Fairhaven	95	89	93	75
Harwich	99	93	97	81
Malden	84	78	78	69
Nashoba Valley Vocational, Westford	86	80	84	70
Pathfinder Vocational, Palmer	89	83	84	72
Springfield	72	66	61	47
Adams-Cheshire Regional	93	88	90	79
Boston	75	70	73	64
City On A Hill Charter, Boston	95	90	79	67
Gloucester	93	88	83	75
Southbridge	84	79	77	65
Southern Berkshire Regional, Sheffield	96	91	88	77
Whittier Vocational, Haverhill	86	81	80	51

Biggest declines

These districts declined at least 3 percentage points in their MCAS passing rates for both grade 10 English and math, compared with the previous year.

District	English Passing %		Math Passing %
	2004	2003	2004	2003
North Brookfield	82	98	85	96
Somerville	76	87	76	80
Lenox	93	98	92	98
Sturgis Charter, Hyannis	96	100	91	98
Hatfield	93	100	97	100
Sabis International Charter, Springfield	93	98	87	91
Mansfield	93	98	91	94
Somerset	93	96	83	88
Littleton	97	100	91	94