Thursday, 4:30 PM
Tenth-graders earn highest MCAS scores since 1998
By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff
Tenth-graders in Massachusetts recorded their best results on the state MCAS exams since 1998, according to results released today. Click here to view the results by district or click here for the results by school.
Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll released the detailed scores this morning on individual high schools and school systems at a press conference at the Dorchester Education Complex in Boston, the former Dorchester High which was divided into three schools to improve student achievement.
The sophomores' scores are the only bright spot in this year's batch of MCAS tests, according to state averages released last week. In grades 3-8, English and math scores in grades 3-8 were flat or declined. School and district scores for the lower grades will be released next month.
Eighty-four percent of high school sophomores passed the English and math tests on their first try, up from 68 percent in 2001. The Class of 2003, who were sophomores in 2001, were the first students required to pass the test to graduate.
In Boston, students posted higher scores on the high-stakes 10th grade test. Eighty-five percent of Boston's students passed the English MCAS last spring, compared with 73 percent the year before. And 78 percent passed math, up from 67 percent the prior year.
At TechBoston Academy, one of the schools in the Dorchester complex, Headmaster Mary Skipper attributed the higher scores to a longer school day for struggling students and high graduation requirements, such as four years of math, among other things.
"I'm so proud of the kids," said Skipper in a recent interview. "And I'm so proud of the faculty. High standards, that's what were about."
