Brooke charter school in Roslindale goes to head of the class on MCAS

By Kim Foley MacKinnon, Town Correspondent

The eighth grade class at the Edward W. Brooke Charter School in Roslindale was ranked number one among all schools in the state on both the 2011 English Language Arts MCAS exam and the 2011 Mathematics MCAS exam.

“All of us in the Brooke community are thrilled by our results because they are a reflection of all the hard work put in by our scholars and their teachers,” said Kimberly Steadman, the school’s co-director.

The charter school was founded in 2002 with just 88 fifth-graders. Today, it has 475 students in kindergarten through grade 8 and is an open enrollment Boston public school. According to the school, 98 percent of students are black or Latino and 78 percent qualify for free and reduced lunch.

Steadman said the results are no surprise to the faculty and staff.

“We know that what it takes to get great results is great teaching -- it's not a trick or an easy formula,” she said. “It's just daily hard work by teachers to constantly push themselves and their students to learn more and perform at higher and higher levels day after day, week after week, and year after year. When teachers and students get into their work and deeply believe in their own self-determination, they can accomplish great things.”

In addition to the eighth grade scores, Brooke seventh-graders ranked first among all districts in the state on the ELA test and second on the math test, while its fifth-graders ranked first among all districts in the state on the ELA test and third on the math test.