Thursday, 4:30 PM
Some improvements seen in school performance
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff
No new school districts in Massachusetts were added to the list of those in need of improvement and 86 were removed from the list after making two consecutive years of progress on the MCAS and other measures required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, state officials said today.
In total, 46 districts in Massachusetts, 19 percent of all those statewide, as well as 668 schools, 39 percent of all those in Massachusetts, are now on the list of those in need of improvement, according to a survey released by the Massachusetts Department of Education.
Even as state education officials hailed the overall drop in the number of schools needing improvement, they acknowledged unwelcome findings. The state gave 86 schools the harshest designation this year, up from 60 last year and 30 in 2005. Many of the schools are located in urban districts that have long struggled to improve student performance. The designation means the schools may need to be restructured by the state.
"It is encouraging to see so many of our districts and schools meeting their AYP targets," said Acting Education Commissioner Jeffrey Nellhaus, using the acronym for Adequate Yearly Progress. "It's a testament to the hard work and dedication of teachers, students and parents. Still, too many of our schools - particularly in urban areas - are not making enough progress year to year."
The new Boston Public Schools Superintendent, Carol R. Johnson, said she looked forward to working with the state to aggressively improve students' performance.
"We are pleased with the news that more of our schools have made significant progress and are now in good standing, but we acknowledge that there is still more work to do," Johnson said in a statement. "We will review the schools that have made significant improvements so that we can learn and share best practices with other schools."
