A quick glance chart showing how Wayland students fared in comparison to the state averages on the 2012 MCAS tests.
Grade and Subject Source: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Click here for complete MCAS results)
The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) scores for districts throughout the state have been released.
Wayland students overall showed steady proficiency in math and a slight decrease in English/language arts proficiency, according to the 2012 district-specific Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) results released Wednesday. This marks the first year that the scores can be viewed apart from the lens of No Child Left Behind, a federal program from which Massachusetts received a waiver in February. Specifically, Massachusetts received a waiver from the No Child Left Behind requirement that all students achieve proficiency in math and English by 2014, Boston.com explained. Now, schools "must strive to reduce proficiency gaps by 50 percent by 2017." With that framework in mind, 80 percent of the 1,496 Wayland students who took …
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The number and percentage of Wayland students scoring in the advanced or proficient range on 10 of 17 MCAS tests increased in 2011 from 2010 numbers.
Students in Wayland Public Schools largely improved their performance on the state’s MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) tests in 2011, according to data just released by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Overall, 89 percent or 1,331 students who took the English Language Arts (ELA) MCAS test in Wayland schools in 2011 scored in the advanced or proficient range as compared to 87 percent (1,290 students) who did in 2010. The percentage scoring in the advanced or proficient range on the Math test, 80 percent or 1,198 students, did not change from the 2010 number, though the number of students did increase from 1,184. MCAS tests are administered in the spring of each year. According to the …
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Standardized test stress or no big deal?
How important are the MCAS (and other standardized) tests? Do your children feel pressured to perform well? Does your teacher “teach to the test” in preparation? And, even more importantly, how do your children respond to the testing period and how do you respond to them? If you have an elementary-aged child, you’ve probably been hearing a lot about MCAS tests in the past few weeks. The Wayland elementary schools are in the thick of their first set of MCAS tests and, as a first-time MCAS mom, I’ve heard a LOT about them. For a school system that in the past has said they don’t "teach to the tests," we saw an enormous amount of practice tests happening in school, practice tests for homework, test-taking strategy discussions, relaxation …
10:15 pm on Wednesday, March 30, 2011
I will never forget the morning of my first day teaching the MCAS. I went over the rules as stated in the rule book. It says to ask if there are any questions. One boy raised his hand and asked, "if I don't do well on this test does that mean that I will grow up to be a loser, I will drop out of school and won't get a job?" Wow! The kids really do react to the hype and take it to heart. I think … more ›
Jeff Dieffenbach
10:30 am on Thursday, September 20, 2012
It's worth pointing out that comparing scores from one year to the next doesn't really represent "gains" or "losing ground." Such scores are comparing two different groups of students--it's natural that there will be year-to-year fluctuations. A better (but more difficult) comparison is looking at how a given grade's students score over time. For instance, assuming that the test scores are … more ›