MCAS Reading results for 2002

The state first started testing reading in 2001. The reading test is done only in the third grade. Here are the 2002 results for Shutesbury, some nearby towns and the results for Massachusetts as a whole.

Percentage of students at each performance level.

Erving and New Salem-Wendell (Swift River) are not eligible to apply for Reading First grants even though their scores show considerably lower performance than Shutesbury.

*For reporting purposes students tested with the MCAS reading test are divided into three categories: proficient, needs improvement, and failing. However scoring with greater precision is tabulated internally by the state and is used to produce the scaled score. This is why Pelham has a higher scaled score than Shutesbury even though we have the same figures in each of the three performance categories.

There are 1080 public elementary schools in Massachusetts. The average scaled third grade reading score in 2002 was 30.2. There were 746 schools that scored lower than 33, 180 that scored higher than 33 and 136 that scored the same as Shutesbury.

The data for 2001 are quite similar.

We are one of 560 schools in Massaachusetts eligible to apply for a Reading First grant. Almost all of the 560 school have considerably lower scores than Shutesbury and as the table and data above shows there are school which perform considerably lower than Shutesbury and are not eligible.

How Reading First Eligibility is Calculated

There are five ways in which a district can be determined eligible for a Reading First grant. Before June 12, 2003 the State DOE stated that a district will be eligible if any of the five conditions are met.  As of June 12 that interpretation has changed and it seems that poor reading scores are now required along with at least one more of the criteria listed below:

Poor Reading Scores:

To qualify for Reading First eligibility with poor reading scores 50% or more of the entire population of third grade students must score as either needing help or failing.

High Failure Rate:

If 10% or more of the third grade students are scored as failing the district is eligible.

High Poverty Rate:

Any district that has a Department of Revenue determined poverty rating higher than 15% is eligible.

Title One Status of Needs Improvement:

Any district that has a title one determination of "needs improvement" is eligible.

US Department of Education Enterprize Zone:

Any district that has been declared an Enterprize Zone is eligible.

Shutesbury was determined eligible because our 2001 poverty rate as determined by the State Department of Revenue is 15.68%.  The grant was later canceled because of our good reading scores.

The following disaggregated data are taken from a report (172k) from the Massachusetts Department of Education. Disaggregation refers to the process where aggregate scores are calculated for many different groups.

I have included the data from Shutesbury as well as representative schools in Amherst and Boston. The report from the state DOE didn't list comparable data from schools which are not Reading First eligible so the table below does not include the other local schools.

Percent of the selected student groups who scored at the proficient level on the 2002 MCAS reading test for each school in Reading First eligible districts. Percentages for student groups with 10 or less members are not reported. ***

***While the state claims that "Percentages for student groups with 10 or less members are not reported.", Shutesbury's 2002 third grade SPED population totaled 4 members. The reason we are listed here is not because of poor reading performance but beacuse of our poverty rate.

MCAS results on the Massachusetts Department of Education website