DALTON, Mass. — Based on recent MCAS scores, the Central Berkshire Regional School District has seen growth in many areas, but work still needs to be done. 

 

Administrators explained at the last School Committee meeting that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System scores showed students had made moderate progress toward targets.

 

The state sets targets based on the previous year's accountability reporting. The targets are on various metrics, including English language arts, math, science, chronic absenteeism, and more. 

 

In 2024, the district met 37 percent more targets than it did in 2023, performing above the state in many areas, including Grades 3, 5 and 8 in English language arts and in math results for students with disability, high needs, and Hispanic and Latino students. 

 

"The targets moved. The other important thing to note is that last year, part of the conversation was that our targets were substantially higher than many other districts because we were already past our pre-COVID marks, which is kind of the bar that the state set in 2022," Assistant Superintendent Michael Henault said.

 

"But our targets, moved again, so they moved further up and so not only did we meet the point that we should have met in 2023 but we also surpassed it. So, it's quite a lot of growth."

 

In addition, the district's Grade 10 ELA, math, and science results for students with disabilities and high needs were above the state average. 

 

A point of pride for the district is that its lowest performing students were 14 out of 16 points for achievement, Superintendent Leslie Blake-Davis said. 

 

Lowest performing students are students who are not necessarily on an Individualized Education Program but whom the state "identifies as not making the type of progress we would like to see them," she said, so, the state puts them into their own group to monitor closely and make sure "that they have almost an increased trajectory in their learning."

 

Becket Washington Elementary School received a school of recognition designation for meeting or exceeding 76 percent of its accountability targets, outperforming both school-based targets and the state average. 

 

Craneville Elementary School also made substantial progress meeting 13 percent more targets than the previous year. It also met 92 percent of the targets for its lowest performing student group. Nessacus Regional Middle School had a 32 percent increase in the accountability targets it met, going from meeting 10 percent of their targets to 42 percent.  

 

"The targets that they met for their high needs students, they went from 9 percent to 68 percent so, that's considerable growth for Nessacus Regional Middle School," Blake-Davis said. 

 

"Areas of growth for Nessacus include science achievement and chronic absenteeism. The reason it'll say 29 percent moderate progress towards targets [is] because it's averaged with last year's score."

 

Wahconah Regional High School also made substantial progress, meeting 57 percent more of its targets than in 2023. 

 

"They had high growth and high achievement for their lowest performing students, 95 percent of the targets were met. For them, an area of growth is also chronic absenteeism, but also student growth in ELA," Blake-Davis said. 

 

Kittredge Elementary School made moderate progress but struggled to meet high targets this year. Some grade levels did perform considerably above the state average. 

 

"They did have very high targets based on their achievement from last year …. They had one particular pocket, I would say, of students that really struggled to meet their targets. There was a component of a particular group, I would say, of students that came to us and did not go through Kittredge school," Blake-Davis said. 

 

"So, I would say there was about a third of a class that actually were brand new. And I think that the important thing to note is there were also some classes at Kittredge that scored in both ELA and math considerably above the state … the not meeting their targets this year is really not a good snapshot of all of the growth and achievement for their for their grades three to five."

 

In ELA, Grade 3 was 13 percent above the state and Grade 4, which is a large class of 26 kids with high needs, was 16 percent above the state. In math, Grade 3 was 15 percent above the state in math and Grade 4 was 6 percent. 

 

The fifth grade cohort struggled. A third of the class was new, they attempted a lot of different interventions that did not gain traction, and had some staff transitions, Kittredge Principal Howard Marshall said. 

 

It was also frustrating that they did not get any points for attendance because the preschool had almost identical attendance from last year, Marshall said. 

 

Marshall said students in kindergarten through second grade receive support in reading with trained teachers and multiple structured programs however by third grade the students who are still struggling lack access to the same level of intervention. 

 

Although interventions are attempted, teachers in Grades 3 to 5 don't have programs structured like that or staff that do that level of intervention, he said.

 

"I wholeheartedly believe in the interventionist model. I think its the smartest thing the school district has done in terms of in terms of moving towards having more in the schools because we have to take into account that our demographics have shifted and we aren't necessarily working with the same exact student population that we were 10 [to] 15 years ago," Wahconah Regional High School principal Aaron Robb added. 

 

"I think it was a smart move to shift towards a more intervention type model. The percentage of students on IEPs is higher at my school than than in previous years. So the [general education] teachers in the classroom and the pair of professionals and so on so forth they're doing everything that they can but I firmly believe that the interventionist is able to catch those kids that typically fall through the cracks particularly those students who are struggling and aren't necessarily on an IEP." 

 

Marshall agreed adding that its school's weakest area are the students who need support but are not on an IEP. There is not a middle ground for them — there is either a special education teacher or a tier two intervention support.   

 

Kittredge has a halftime math interventionist so the students get some support but it's not enough, Marshall said. 

 

The high school's interventionist is absolutely working, Robb said referring to the Wahconah Regional High School grade 10 mathematics slide. 

 

The reason 64 percent of its tenth graders are meeting or exceeding the mathematical targets is not only because of the hard work of the teachers but also the interventionist piece, he said. 

 

"It's only 4 percent not meeting those students may not have met expectations in that sitting but that math interventionist junior and senior year, [students have] multiple opportunities to retake the MCAS exam [and the interventionist is] still working with those students," Robb said. 

 

"Although our interventionist is working primarily 9th and 10th grade that one person is working with those students to get them to pass before they hit 12th." 

 

The committee also voted to make committee member David Stuart as its delegate for the Massachusetts Association of School Committees Joint Conference Resolutions.

 

During this vote, committee members debated about Question 2 on the Nov. 5 ballot that, if passed, would eliminate the current practice requiring high school students to pass the 10th grade MCAS test in order to graduate.

 

Committee members acknowledged that the MCAS has flaws. However, some felt removing it as a graduation requirement is not a good option. 

 

The argued that the test serves as a benchmark for assessing whether students have the necessary skills and knowledge, and eliminating it could undermine important accountability and assessment measures.

 

"The moment we stop valuing that meeting that standard, and I'm not saying that this school district per se right, but it's leading to a trend overall within the state that if it doesn't matter whether or not you can meet these skills in your math and English classes then what does. At what point, what what skill level, do you need to meet in order for you to get a high school diploma," School Committee member Charlotte Crane said. 

 

Others however argued that a one-size-fits-all test should not determine high school graduation. The tests can be used as a tool for administrators to help students but should not dictate whether they graduate, school committee member Art Alpert said. 

 

"The ballot initiative is to just remove it as a graduation require which I completely agree with. You have not only is it a measure of competency you have kids that are fully competent can go on to college that just can't sit and that test," member Ellen Lattizori said.