ATHOL — The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education last week released results of the MCAS exams taken in school districts all across the Commonwealth the past spring, and the results for the Athol Royalston Regional School District were mainly positive.
At Athol Community Elementary School, scores on the English Language Arts (ELA) portion of the test jumped more than 5 points, from 489.5 points last year to 494.7 points this year. A gain of more than 2.5 points is considered by the state to show significant growth.
Math scores increased by 1.7 points, to 489.7, allowing the school to meet its target goal.
Scores on both the ELA and math section also jumped significantly at Royalston Community School. The cumulative score for ELA stood at 504.2, representing a hike of 2.9 points, while the math score rose by 4.5 points to 503.7. The composite score for the school jumped from 56 in 2018 to 66 this year.
At Athol Royalston Middle School, there was progress in two out of three areas. Math scores rose from 489.8 the previous year to 491 this spring. The composite score rose from 61.0 to 65.8, but results on the ELA portion of the exam dropped nearly 3 points, from 492.4 last year to 489.5 this year.
At the high school, ELA scores jumped from 95.1 to 96.9, while science scores rose a full point, from 81.2 last year to 82.2 this year. Math scores were unchanged year-to-year.
District Superintendent Darcy Fernandes cited an increased emphasis on professional development as one reason behind the overall increase in scores, along with several other reasons.
“We’ve built on how to service our kids,” she said. “The community’s investment in the materials the staff needed in order to support our kids better. In general, I think it’s because of a new commitment on the part of everyone to see that this district is successful, from the selectmen to the school committee. Everybody has been on board with our plan, has been committed to it and has been committed to making sure those resources are available to make it happen.”
Fernandes also said tweaks to the curriculum have also helped improve student learning.
“When I arrived,” she said, “the school district at the elementary level was using a curriculum that really was not helpful to the teachers and didn’t really provide materials. All it provided was lessons that the teachers could use, but without the materials. They were spending more time looking for materials than they were planning for lessons. We put into place the Wonders curriculum, which has made a huge difference because materials and the lesson plans are embedded in the program.”
“We’ve also done a lot of curriculum work in looking at our materials in science and mathematics,” she continued. “What we found was some of materials weren’t matching the new curriculum for the state. So, we purchased materials, particularly in the science area to help build that capacity, as well as a lot more lab equipment. We’ve also invested a good amount of money at the middle school and the high school in putting in place technology to support the new science curriculum.”
While generally pleased with this year’s MCAS results, Fernandes says improvement should continue. To that end, she said the district would continue to increase investment in professional development, tutoring for students, and improved materials.