By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
10/16/08

(See our 10/16/08 print edition for detailed charts)

(previous)
Pierce is required to restructure and “significantly alter school governance and/or structures” to respond to the math problem areas. Pierce is also in corrective action for the ELA subgroups, which means it must make changes that may include staff restructuring, extended school days and/or years and expert assistance. Pierce has failed for five consecutive years to make progress for its subgroups in math and four consecutive years in the English language arts.
The town’s other elementary schools are also falling behind in at least one student group each this year. Collicot’s and Glover’s special education students scored below the state average in both math and ELA. This is the first time Glover has appeared on the list.
Cunningham’s special education students fell below in English but made adequate progress in math.
School Committee Chair Beirne Lovely called the special education situation “terrible” at the committee’s meeting last Tuesday, which included an MCAS presentation by Superintendent Mary Gormley.
Lovely said he is troubled by the special education scores and wants to know what can be done to improve them.
“In some sense it’s a failure,” he said. “We need to know why that is.”
Assistant Superintendent John Phelan said special education students at Pierce are receiving extra instruction in math to help them understand the test. He said more students are moving away from individualized education programs and entering traditional classrooms.
In the presentation, Phelan pointed to data that indicates that more students are scoring in the proficient and advanced ranges as they move through the grades.
“That’s what we like to see,” he said.
Gormley said the district as a whole performed well on the spring MCAS, scoring above the state averages at most grade levels. She said Milton High’s tenth grade performance “outstanding,” pointing out that every student group scored above the state. The tenth graders were the only class included in the state’s data.
But she said problem areas exist.
“It really gives a new meaning to the term ‘no child left behind,’” she said. “Every single child counts. Everybody has to be a part of this. Everyone has to own this data.”
The School Committee has an article in the Oct. 20 Town Meeting warrant seeking $103,000 to hire two teachers to help with MCAS performances. The teachers would work at Pierce and Tucker.