Urban Districts Show Gains on Third Grade Reading MCAS

The school and district 2010 MCAS scores were released this afternoon, and there’s encouraging news from the 10 urban commissioner’s districts in Massachusetts. Third grade reading scores are up in all 10 districts – Boston, Brockton, Fall River, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Springfield and Worcester. The achievement gap statewide narrowed, but remains large. In 2010, 43% of third graders from low-income families scored proficient or above on the reading MCAS, up from 35% in 2009. Among students whose families are not low-income, 74% of third graders scored proficient or above on the reading MCAS this year, up from 69% in 2009.

“The most important challenge we face in public education today is accelerating the progress of our lowest performing students, who too often are students of color or from low-income communities,” Mitchell Chester, commissioner of elementary and secondary education, said in a news release. “I am pleased with the progress we have made this year, but recognize that our work will not be completed until we see clear evidence that all students are performing at high levels.”

We issued the following news release about the district scores — including a table with 2010 and 2009 third grade reading scores in the commissioner’s districts.  Click here to view school and district MCAS scores for the entire state. To see third grade reading (ELA) scores, be sure to select grade 03 in the appropriate drop-down box.

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BOSTON — Strategies for Children, Inc., is pleased to note that third graders’ performance on the 2010 MCAS reading test improved in all of the state’s 10 Commissioner’s Districts, urban school systems targeted for special assistance by the state. Despite the improvement, however, the achievement gap remains too wide. The state must continue to pursue strategies shown to improve children’s early learning and acquisition of language and literacy skills.

“It is particularly encouraging to see indications of progress in third grade reading for some of our most vulnerable children,” said Margaret Blood, president and founder of Strategies for Children, a Boston-based non-profit organization. “However, much work remains. We know from research that third grade reading is a critical predictor of a child’s later chances of graduating from high school, attending college and contributing to the modern knowledge-based economy. The achievement gap is still far too wide, and far too many children still struggle with reading at the end of third grade. The most effective way to address this problem is to ensure that all children have access to high-quality early education and to focus attention on improving the primary grades.”

In June, Strategies for Children released “Turning the Page: Refocusing Massachusetts for Reading Success,” a report it commissioned from nationally known literacy expert Nonie Lesaux at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In it, Lesaux outlined strategies for improving children’s language and literacy development, from birth to age 9. The state has begun to build an educational continuum through the creation in 2008 of the education secretariat, comprised of the Departments of Early Education and Care, Elementary and Secondary Education, and Higher Education. The recently enacted “Act Relative to the Achievement Gap” and the state’s successful Race to the Top application include provisions related to early education.

Strategies for Children urges state leaders to further build on this infrastructure by instituting developmentally appropriate assessments that determine children’s status as emerging readers well before the third grade MCAS; ensuring that children have access to affordable high-quality early education and care; making sure that professional development and training for early educators and primary grade teachers focus on language acquisition and literacy; and supporting family and community engagement in language and literacy development.