Hello Hardy Families:
MCAS school results were made public on Oct 18, 2017 and are available on the DESE webpage: Link. Be sure to click on Any Grade and Subject rows in the table to view Achievement Level in graphs using this. If you do not then you will only see the first graph, which is for grade 3 reading.
DESE will be sending out individual student reports to schools around the end of the month. Wellesley elementary, middle and high schools will then mail student reports to parents through US mail so all reports are received on the same day; that date has not been set yet; as soon as I know it I will let you know.
There has been some buzz in the news regarding lower scores with the new test. I am happy to report that Hardy has a lot to be proud of and to celebrate regarding the results of the spring MCAS. Hardy continues to outperform the state average and do extremely well across the district. The buzz and attention to reporting categories has to do with the first impression and conclusion some folks may make in interpreting the meaning behind the new categories. As you know the test the students took last spring was MCAS 2.0 which is a new test and very different from the test that was created 20 years ago.
I want to make sure that I answer any quesions Hardy parents may have regarding the new categories and the new test so I invite you to attend a brief MCAS information session on Tuesday, October 31st at 8:00 a.m. in the library to learn a bit more. After the MCAS reports are sent home to parents I will offer another session. The bottom line is our students continue to do extremely well.
If you cannot make the brief information session on Oct. 31 don’t worry, please give me a call or look out for the date of the second MCAS information meeting I will be offering in early November.
I have attached a few links made available by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, DESE, designed to share information with parents:
- Iinteractive guide about the next-generation MCAS: http://www.doe.mass.edu/odl/e-learning/mcas-parentguide/content/index.html#/?_k=e82zj7.
- Parent DESE page to help parents understand MCAS http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/parents/
- DESE Hardy School Profile: http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/mcas/achievement_level.aspx?linkid=32&orgcode=03170020&orgtypecode=6&
- DESE home page: http://www.doe.mass.edu/
Other informaiton about how Massachusetts student are performing:
- #1 in the U.S. in reading and math on NAEP, “The Nation’s Report Card” (2015);
- #1 in Advanced Placement achievement in the country (2017); and
- #1 in the world in reading on the Program for International Student Assessment (2016).
In addition, Education Week ranked Massachusetts’ public school system the best in the country for the third year in a row and also put the Commonwealth at the top of the nation in the publication’s Chance for Success Index, which considers outcomes from early childhood through adulthood.
Thank you,
Charlene Cook, Principal