Boston Public Schools MCAS & Dropout Data - Massachusetts Advocates for Children

Boston Public Schools: 2005 Data

MCAS Failure Rates for Seniors in the Class of 2005 as of February 2005

 

The latest available data on students in the current senior class who have passed MCAS and will be able to graduate continues to paint an unacceptable picture:  .    27% (or 1,188) of all seniors in the class of 2005 are failing.

Racial Disparities are Still Great

 .     13% of Whites are failing compared to

. 31% of Blacks, and

. 28% of Latinos.

SPED and Limited English Students fare worst

 .      58% of SPED students are failing

. 67% of LEP students fail, compared to

. 15% of regular education students.

There is Still a Two-Tier System Compare the results of the exam schools and the district high schools:
. 100% of seniors have passed MCAS in the three exam schools (Boston Latin, Latin Academy, and the O?Bryant). In contrast:

. 61% have passed in Hyde Park. 64% in Monument (one of the new small schools in South Boston). 66% in Madison Park. 70% in English High. 72% in the Burke High . 72% in East Boston

Achievement Gap Closing for Passing MCAS at the Needs Improvement Level; But Still Great at Proficiency Level

 .   According to the latest ethnic data on passing at the Needs Improvement level MCAS, Blacks and Latinos in the class of 2003 made significant progress in the Dec. 2002 retests.  76% of Blacks had earned a CD, 71% of Latinos, and 86% of Whites.

. But, in scoring at the Proficiency level, however, in 10^th grade Math, Blacks scored 14% and Latinos 11%, while Whites were at 55%, or 4 to 5 times higher than students of color.

Dramatic Reduction in Bilingual Students Due to Question 2

. In October 2002, there were 9,800 students registered by BPS in bilingual programs. One year later, in October 2003, roughly 4,000 of these students were mainstreamed in regular education classes and 5,000 were placed in Structured English Immersion classes. (For the balance, 500 received waivers to continue in bilingual classes and 300 were in two-way bilingual programs.) To date, there has been no public evaluation of how these students are progressing in the new educational environments.

Dropout Rate and Number of Dropouts is Increasing in Last Two Years

It is extremely disturbing that the annual dropout rate has been increasing for the past two years in BPS, even while the system emphasizes that the four-year cohort dropout rate has declined. This increase has particularly affected Black students since 2003. These data are the first indication that the MCAS requirement for graduation, which came into effect in 2003, may have led to increased dropouts.

. Overall, 21% of students who entered as ninth graders in 1999 dropped out by 2003.

. A total of nearly 1,700 students dropped out in School Year 2003-2004, or the equivalent of losing two small high schools in one year.

. 932 Blacks dropped out in 2003-04, an increase of 175 students over the past two years.

. 463 Latinos dropped out that year, an increase of nearly 70 in the past two years. This analysis was prepared by Massachusetts Advocates for Children using data from the Boston Public Schools.

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Boston Public Schools: 2005 Data