Milford MCAS: Stacy Improves, Less Than Half Third Graders Proficient in Reading

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released district and school-wide MCAS data on Friday. The results show improvements in some grades, and a school-wide improvement at Stacy Middle School.

Among third graders, however, the reading results plummeted. In 2012, 59 percent of Milford third-graders were reading on a proficient or better level. That percentage fell to 47 percent in 2013, according to the state results, 10 percentage points below the state average.

The percentage of third-graders reading at an advanced level, the highest on the scale, fell from 18 percent in 2012 to 7 percent this year.

Statewide, 57 percent of third-graders were proficient or better in reading last spring. The previous year, 61 percent were.

In math, third graders saw improved performance. Sixty-three percent of third graders are proficient, just three points shy of the state average. Last year, only 58 percent in Milford reached that level.

Milford Superintendent Robert Tremblay said Monday the school system received the results earlier in the summer, and he immediately established data teams at Woodland Elementary, home to Milford's third- through fourth-graders. The results at third grade immediately caught his attention.

Ownership for the students doing well has to be established in all grades leading up to the tested grade, he said.

"The bottom line is we need to do a better job of making sure the kids are ready to take that test," he said.

The School Committee on Thursday is expected to discuss the MCAS results, he said.

Administrators have to make sure that teachers are using data from the test results, and applying it in the classroom, he said.

In performance at individual schools, Milford High School and Woodland Elementary schools both were rated as Level 2, one level short of the top ranking, because they did not meet gap-narrowing goals.

Middle School East remained at Level 1, meeting its goals.

Stacy Middle School improved, rising from Level 2 to Level 1, meeting its goals in 2013 based on several years of accumulated testing data.

Brookside and Memorial elementary schools were not ranked because of an insufficient amount of testing data.

Overall, Milford Public Schools remain a Level 2 district, because one or more of its schools are classified as Level 2. Statewide, 57 percent of the school systems in Massachusetts are Level 2 districts.