The school district is taking aggressive action, including more teacher training and after-school courses for students, to boost sagging MCAS scores, the School Committee learned last night.
The district's efforts were outlined in a PowerPoint presentation by Assistant Superintendent Alexander Wyeth.
Some of the initiatives include hosting writers' workshops, broadening teacher training and special instruction for students who are learning English, he said.
Students' MCAS results have been given to their teachers to tailor classroom instruction, he said. Parents are being told of programs offered before and after school to push up scores. Saturday programs are being offered to all students to improve English language arts scores and math.
"Everyone is in this together," Wyeth said. "It's got to be a team effort in order to turn these things around."
Other initiatives include crafting specific plans to help struggling students. The district also plans to make sure low-income students can tap into resources that may help them improve scores.
Waltham schools are among 50 percent of public schools in the state that have been identified for improvement, corrective action or restructuring under a federal accountability system, according to a report released by the state.
"From now until 2014, you're going to see more schools on that list," Wyeth said. "The numbers are getting bigger."
The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently placed Waltham High, Kennedy and McDevitt middle schools, and Whittemore, Northeast, Stanley and Plympton elementary schools on a list for improvement or corrective action, based on 2008 adequate yearly progress reports.
The reports are based mostly on students' performance on the 2008 MCAS exams and compiled because of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. If a school or district doesn't meet the progress standards for two consecutive years, the district receives an accountability status from the state. The districts have to then meet standards for two consecutive years to be removed from the list, according to the state.
Waltham is identified for corrective action this year for students subgroups for English language and math scores for Kennedy Middle School and Stanley and Northeast elementary schools.
The scores for specific subgroups has been a concern for the district. In September, Superintendent Peter Azar said the district needed to examine special education students, low-income students and students whose first language is not English, who scored low on the MCAS.
The MCAS point scale ranges from 200 to 280. A passing score on the high school test is 220 or higher. Proficient is scored between 240 to 258 and advanced or above proficient is a score of 260 or higher.
To get all students to a proficient level the district improvement plan has identified students that are not yet proficient based on the 2008 MCAS scores.
Consequences grow each year a district remains on the corrective action list. After four consecutive years, schools move into the corrective action category and are required to make significant changes that could include staffing, curriculum, governance or instruction.
After five or more consecutive years, schools move into "restructuring," and may be put under state oversight, according to the state.
"There are so many other districts that require state interventions...you have to take that into consideration," Wyeth said. "It's going to reach a crisis point for the state."
Last night, Azar told the School Committee he believes the state will eventually have to revise those consequences, as more schools are placed on corrective action lists as the bar for reaching proficiency continues to climb in coming years.
"The state doesn't actually want to take over the schools ... the magnitude of that, they've got enough to do," Azar said. "The state is not going to come in and take the keys to the school ... they're going to work with us."
Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or at jgilbrid@cnc.com
