Numbers, Numbers, and More Numbers....

A reader had requested information regarding the demographics of the districts that make up the 'region' of MVRCS. We were able to come up with that information rather easily but what we did have trouble finding (that we know we've seen) are the number of students that each district is currently sending (including those outside of the MVRCS region of Malden, Everett, Medford, Stoneham, Wakefield, and Melrose). We will locate it and add it to this posting and will include the figures originally requested at the bottom of this post.
While compiling the data requested we stumbled upon the MCAS scores for each district and started analyzing them. As we began looking at the different scores, we were reminded of the message and tone of the 'recruitment' ad that MVRCS recently took out regarding Malden Public schools. The demographics and diversity of the student body between the two schools is vastly different as are the number of English Language Learners and Special Education (or diverse learners) students between the two schools. Additionally, the argument could be made that the longer school year (200 days v. 185 days) and the longer school day (which I believe the two equal an additional year of learning if a child were to complete their education at MVRCS) also help increase the MCAS scores of students at MVRCS. Given this, we thought that it was interesting (and a bit disturbing) that while the students of MVRCS have a longer school year and longer school day, they don't fare so well on the MCAS when compared to some of the other sending districts such as Melrose and Wakefield (and probably Stoneham although we didn't do that comparison). We were disappointed to see that while MVRCS 10th grade students did well on the 2010 MCAS, not all grades did so well when compared to Wakefield and Melrose. Why do we mention this when we have tried to stay focused on the BIG issues you ask? Because this too is a BIG issue and is as a direct result of the mismanagement and nepeotism that is occurring at MVRCS. The high teacher turnover, the vast differences in expectations and pay among the teachers and staff, low moral, and poor guidance on the part of the administration all contribute greatly to the inconsistent and less than ideal test scores. Do we believe that MCAS scores are the end all, be all in assessment for schools? No, but we do believe they provide an overview and snapshot image of the effectiveness of the school.
As an example, for the 3rd grade Reading, Wakefield (as a district) had 22% of their students at 'Advanced/Above Proficient' and 56% of their students testing at 'Proficient'. Melrose had 25% 'Advanced/Above Proficient' and 49% 'Proficient'. Alternatively, MVRCS 3rd grade Reading scores were 16% were 'Advanced/Above Proficient' and 55% 'Proficient'. That would mean that6 78% of Wakefield's 3rd graders were reading at grade level or higher, 74% of Melrose and 71% of MVRCS. Although not a huge difference in percentages, given the fact that the 3rd graders at MVRCS have already had 61 more school days (15 for each year and 4 for each Feb. school vacation), the longer school day, more time than the other districts spent on academics in a direct instruction methodology, one would hope that more MVRCS 3rd graders would be reading at or above grade level. What about math for this same group? Similar story, Wakefield had 37% Advanced and 46% Proficient (equaling 83% at or above grade level), Melrose had 28% Advanced and 46% Proficient (equaling 74% at or above grade level) and MVRCS had 24% Advanced and 39% Proficient (equaling 63% at or above grade level). Yes, the Administration and Board of MVRCS were very happy with the 2010 MCAS results but that was probably because 2008 and 2009 were much worse. Again we bring this back to an issue of inconsistency and lack of stability among the staff as 2007 MCAS were superior for many grades and subjects. Was 2007 the year that Jen Mullen returned as PDC of the upper grades? Is she as focused on her position and the school as the previous PDC was? We're not sure but we do know that with the exception of 10th grade and a few random grade/subject matters, Melrose and/or Wakefield students scored higher on their MCAS tests than the students of MVRCS.

This information can all be found at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website if you would like to look at it further or to simply verify what we have stated.

As for the original reason for our visit to the DESE, the demographics for the sending communities are as follows (information obtained from the DESE website at http://profiles.doe.mass.edu or from the MVRCS Annual Report).

MVRCS

African American 15.4

Asian 12.2

Hispanic 4.1

Native American 0.4

White 65.6

Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander 0.1

Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic 2.1

Race/Ethnicity	# of students	% of entire student body
African-American	213	15.8 %
Asian	168	12.5 %
Hispanic	47	3.4 %
Native American	12	0.1 %
White	867	63.6 %
Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander	3	0.1 %
Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic	37	2.7 %
Special Education	116	8.6%
Limited English Proficient	0	0
Low Income	263	19.5

Malden

African American 19.7

Asian 21.3

Hispanic 19.1 

Native American 0.6

White 35.6

Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander 0.1

Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic 3.6

Medford

African American 15.2

Asian 7.3

Hispanic 10.3

Native American 0.1

White 64.6

Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander 0.1

Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic 2.4

Everett

African American 16.6

Asian 5.1

Hispanic 29.3

Native American 0.6

White 47.4

Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander 0.1

Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic 0.9

Melrose

African American 4.7

Asian 3.1

Hispanic 2.5

Native American 0.2

White 86.9

Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander 0.3

Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic 2.3

Stoneham

African American 1.7

Asian 3.1

Hispanic 3.4

Native American 0.1

White 89.4

Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander 0.6

Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic 1.7

  

Wakefield

African American 1.9

Asian 2.3

Hispanic 2.0

Native American 0.2

White 92.5

Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander 0.1

Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic 1.0