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Monday, October 31, 2016

Standardized Testing Update

Earlier this month, we sent to students' families a report on Bedford's 2016 MCAS-PARCC testing results. This mailing included an individual student's results, if applicable, as well as a more general report on how the district fared. To give further detail and clarification, I presented an Accountability and Next Steps Report to the school committee on Tuesday, October 18. Here are a few highlights of those two reports.

  • Once again, Bedford High School ranks at the very high end of the state’s 358 public and charter high schools, with 98% of its students scoring Advanced or Proficient in English Language Arts, 91% scoring Proficient or Advanced in Math, and 87% scoring Proficient or Advanced in Science.
  • Our educational system as a whole is in a testing transition, as tests are revised to meet relatively new standards in mathematics, English Language Arts, and science. In 2016 Bedford students in grades 3-8 took the PARCC test using pencil and paper in math and ELA; students in grades 5 and 8 took MCAS science, based on earlier rather than current standards; students in grade 10 took MCAS in math and ELA, tests that have gradually aligned to the new standards; most students in grade 9 took MCAS Physics. 
  • 2016 was the last year of PARCC testing.  In 2017 students grades 3-8 will take MCAS 2.0 in math and ELA, revised tests that combine elements of MCAS and PARCC. Students in grades 4 and 8 will be taking these tests online as required by DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education).  DESE's goal is to have all testing done online by 2019.
  • In summary for grades 3-8, Lane students as a group ("all students") scored above targets set by the state, but several subgroups, including students with high needs, did not meet their specified targets for achievement and/or growth. JGMS students, while making considerable progress in several subgroups, did not meet their targets for growth and/or achievement. By not meeting these targets, Bedford has been deemed Level 2 on the accountability scale.
  • Especially during this testing transition, it is difficult to determine progress or growth from these standardized tests because they are changing from year-to-year, there is very little release of individual items, and some districts were still taking MCAS in grades 3-8. The district is working, then, to examine our district measures, make sure they are well-aligned to all the new standards, to ensure that we have effective ways to measure and monitor student achievement and growth.
  • Bedford High School continues its Level One status because both large groups ("All Students" and "High Needs Students") continue to meet or exceed their targets for achievement and growth. There are nevertheless several areas that need greater strengthening so that we can reach our own goal of 100% proficient or advanced in these tests without succumbing to "teaching to the test," a path that goes against our educational values.
  • If you wish to see more detail on our accountability and how it is calculated, or on the next steps we have in place to continue our progress, the October 18th presentation to school committee is attached below.  MLS







Monday, October 24, 2016

ANNUAL REPORT AND DISTRICT IMPROVEMENT PLAN

Every fall, the District summarizes the previous year's accomplishments in the Annual Report and describes its priority goals for the current school year in its District Improvement Plan.  These may be viewed on our website at:

2015-2016 Annual Report:  
http://www.bedford.k12.ma.us/sites/bedfordps/files/news/fy15_annual_report_bps.pdf

2016-2017 District Improvement Plan: 
http://www.bedford.k12.ma.us/sites/bedfordps/files/pages/2016-2017districtimprovementplan.pdf.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Summer Workshops Sustain Creative Curriculum Planning

With the cooler air and leaves fluttering to the ground, the memories of sultry summer days may be fading, but in Bedford Public Schools we are continuing to implement summer curriculum projects in every building and nearly every subject matter. Many educators are invigorated by working with colleagues on curriculum during the summer months, for there is time and space to be creative and dig more deeply into approaches and materials for minds-on, student-centered learning.

This summer the district sponsored more projects than ever before, in part because projects in recent years have yielded such powerful results. One example is the Kindergarten Integration Project, which began in 2015 with a group of five teachers working to integrate purposeful play into the ELA, math, science and social studies learning for kindergarten students. They transformed the longstanding Davis Town Project into an end-of-year culmination of skills development in collaborative, creative problem-solving that ran throughout the year and incorporated learning expectations from all curriculum areas. Three teachers, Vera Corbett, Jessica Colby, and Alysse Bridenbecker, presented their project to the school committee on October 4.  It was truly inspiring, especially in terms of student and teacher engagement in the work. Their slideshow is linked below and plans are underway to videotape their presentation.   MLS

Kindergarten Integration Project


Here are a few highlights of other curriculum projects:
At the Davis School teachers and administrators collaborated to
·         develop integrated units at grades 1 and 2 parallel to the integration work of the kindergarten team
·         review and revise standards-based progress reports
·         review and revise writing program, including working with student examples and scoring rubrics to determine growth at each grade level
At the Lane School teachers and administrators worked together to
 ·       infuse new science units with increased student inquiry opportunities
·         determine science expectations for report cards
·         deepen read-aloud story lessons that help students develop greater cultural proficiency
·         strengthen ELA integration within science and social studies at grade 3, 4 and 5
At JGMS faculty collaborated to
·         develop and improve co-teaching in math and ELA
·         continue ELA Audit, incorporating more diverse texts and authors at each grade level
·         continue integration of new science standards
·         continue revision of social studies curriculum grades 6-7-8
At the high school faculty worked together to
·         continue refining co-teaching in ELA and math
·         further develop curriculum for STEP Program (new in 2015)
·         develop curriculum for new ELA courses in Asian-American and African-American Literature