THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, October 18, 2024 Page 7 MCAS | FROM PAGE 1 students who are challenged by physical or intellectual disabilities. According to the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the state agency which oversees the Commonwealth’s 371 public school districts, the MCAS testing – Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System – is a set of statewide standardized tests. Students in Grades 3-8 and 10 take MCAS tests in English language arts and mathematics. Students in Grades 5, 8, and one high school grade, Malden Grade 10, take a science MCAS test. Students in Grade 8 take a civics MCAS test. According to DESE, Mass. state law requires that high school students meet the Competency Determination (CD) standard in order to graduate, which is usually done by earning a passing score on MCAS tests. At Thursday’s meeting, Bhasin used a slide deck largely consisting of data displayed on a variety of graphs that depicted scores and percentage trends across the district, grade-bygrade and from the respective fi ve K-8 schools – Beebe, Ferryway, Forestdale, Linden and Salemwood – as well as Malden High School. The results were also broken down demographically to get a clearer picture of how various cultural groups are performing. Bhasin told the School Committee that the growth score used to determine the propensity for improvement and higher performance results had increased overall for Malden’s Grade 3 and Grade 8 students. The fi rst-year Assistant Superintendent said there was a 4% increase in several areas. “This [improvement] closes the gap [further] between this year’s results and the pre-pandemic results and are on par with the state average.” Bhasin also noted that Malden Public Schools’ overall performance scores at each grade level in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics testing was consistently higher than in Malden’s peer districts. Some of these peer districts are Brockton, Everett, Medford, Lawrence and Waltham. According to numbers available on the DESE website, Malden Public Schools scored higher in each category at each level in nearly all of them than the peer district schools. All of Malden Public Schools’ detailed MCAS performance results as well as those from all of Massachusetts public schools’ districts are public information available for viewing on the DESE website: https://www.doe. mass.edu/mcas/results.html. MCAS results dating back yearly to 2018 are available at that link. Bhasin noted that all of the district’s school principals were in attendance at the School Committee meeting that evening and that they were available to discuss and evaluate individual school results. The Assistant Superintendent said she, Superintendent Dr. Sippel and the entire central administration team are already working on a “next steps” plan to “keep momentum moving positively on a successful path for all of our students” as to MCAS and overall academic performance this school year. Included are increased academic coaching and professional learning partnerships; adding numerous school-specifi c and curriculum-specifi c initiatives to support instruction; and facilitating small-group, data-informed interventions. Bhasin said the central administration was encouraged by the progress of the Malden Public Schools’ substantially sized English Learner student population overall academically, though the MCAS scores did not refl ect it this year, particularly at the elementary level. English Learners are students who are still learning to master English and whose fi rst language is not English either in school or at home. At this time the predominant language spoken by most students in the Malden Public Schools is Portuguese, primarily by students of Brazilian descent – some 46 percent of Malden’s students – it has been reported this school year. “We are excited about the support we have given and plan to continue and increase for our English Learner students,” Bhasin said, adding that continued and increased attention is being provided along those lines during regular Professional Development training for educators. “We continue to work on individualized progress targets [for students] and we are focusing on the development of professional learning plans,” Bhasin said. Speaking on behalf of Superintendent Dr. Sippel and the entire central administration, to the eff orts of all Malden Public Schools educators and administrators in continuing the goal of MCAS result improvement and all overall academic achievement this school year, Bhasin said, “We appreciate and have deep respect for the work of our educators to do right by our kids.” SAFETY | FROM PAGE 1 fun goody bags. Also in attendance were the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and Massachusetts State Police. The event was sponsored by Malden Housing Authority, Cataldo Ambulance, Malden DPW, Piantedosi Baking Co., Stop & Shop, Anthony’s of Malden, Ward 8 Councillor Jadeane Sica, Councillor-at-Large Craig Spadafora and Malden Girl Scouts. The Fire Department also hosted their annual Smoke Detector Installation Program during Fire Prevention Week, where they installed 60+ smoke and carbon detectors for Seniors 65 and older. Fire Prevention Week is observed every October in remembrance of the Great Chicago Fire that began on October 8, 1871, and killed more than 250 people, along with destroying more than 17,400 structures across 2,000 acres. In 1911, 40 years after the fi re, the Fire Marshals Association determined that the anniversary of this fi re should be observed annually to generate awareness about fi re prevention. Advocate Call now! 617-387-2200 advertise on the web at www.advocatenews.net CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
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