Dear Parents, At the end of October the results of State testing were made available to all parents of children of last year's third graders. While the results of the tests were better this year at Moharimet than last year, they were significantly different from the scores at Mast Way. Mast Way had significantly more children score in both the Advanced and Proficient categories on the test. Below is the data as presented to me from the superintendent's office. 1995-96 Grade 3 State Test Results Proficiency Levels - MATHEMATICS % Students at Each Proficiency Level Proficiency Level * MWE MOH DIST State Advanced 26 13 19 10 Proficient 31 30 31 23 Basic 33 44 38 46 Novice 6 10 8 18 1995-96 Grade 3 State Test Results Proficiency Levels - LANGUAGE ARTS Proficiency Level * MWE MOH DIST State Advanced 24 8 17 4 Proficient 31 23 27 25 Basic 31 51 41 45 Novice 7 14 11 21 * Refer to the page after this letter for the descriptors of each proficiency level. We did move children from the Novice category into the Basic category and from the Proficient to Advanced. None of us at the school will ever be satisfied with these results and, as with last year's results, we look forward to the toil and thought that will be required for us to find out what all this data means. As a beginning, I asked the third grade teachers to review the results and tell me whether or not they thought that they reflected the achievement of the children at the time the test was given. They have informed me that most of the results were accurate from their point of view. Our task is to see whether or not adjustments need to be made in our teaching and in when we introduce curriculum related to the Curriculum Frameworks. As an elementary staff, both Mast Way and Moharimet have undertaken this task together. Last year I reported to you that we would spend time and energy formally preparing the children for the State Test. We did thachildren for the State Test. We did that by taking the following steps. We did an item analysis of the test. We reviewed the frameworks with all staff district wide to determine what aspects of the frameworks are emphasized and which ones were not. We attended state wide workshops. We simulated testing conditions regularly from January through May. We interviewed Mast Way staff and principal. We designed sample open ended questions. We designed sample writing prompts. This year we intend to do some of the same things and move more of the discussion and action into the early primary years. This is not a third grade issue, it is a school wide issue and we take it seriously. No one snapshot of a limited number of children in a school should be used to evaluate curriculum. Rather, we need to ask tough questions of ourselves, our teaching methods, and our curriculum design. Moharimet has always been dedicated to those behaviors. Academic excellence is the hallmark of this district. This school has always strived to be the best that it can be for each individual child who has entered. We will continue to strive for excellence. Whenever excellence is described as something from the past or as a specific point that someone knows in advance, it is an illusion. Excellence is to be sought; it is dynamic and elusive. What was excellent ten years ago may not have value today. As our philosophy statement proclaims: "In a complex and changing world, we, as educators, appreciate that we must continually evaluate and improve techniques for meeting the dynamic needs of our children and ourselves." Moharimet staff will continue to look at what and how we teach. Since we have opened, we have worked hard to avoid labels. It is not, in my view, constructive to label this school process, traditional, or progressive. It is accurate to state that we believe in individualized education, heterogeneous grouping, and serving the needs of every child. As principal, it is my responsibility to see that each child receives schooling based on those fundamental principles. It is my responsibility to see that each child receives schooling based on those fundamental principles. It is my responsibility to see that we have as many ways of delivering instruction to children as it is possible to design based on the resources available.at we have as many ways of delivering instruction to children as it is possible to design based on the resources available. At Moharimet, basal readers are tools which are as available for staff to use as are a rich array of literature, skills enhancement strategies and materials, and other instructional techniques embedded in the context of authentic readings and writings. Direct instruction is as respected and used as is less formal methods of instruction. As a community, let us resolve to avoid divisive rhetoric and stay on task. My staff and I have always opened the door wide to all parents to be part of our dialogue and that will not stop. Those who hold philosophical differences will be respected and listened to. It is an expectation that I hold for all who work here. We must continue as a community to find what is right for our children recognizing that all parents, staff, and principal center our decisions on what is best for children. Below are the Stanford Achievement tests results from last year's fourth graders at both Moharimet and Mast Way. This is the same group of youngsters who took the 1995 State third grade test and compared so unfavorably to Mast Way. You will note that the scores are almost identical. It puzzles us even further, and this other snapshot indicates that we should always look at many factors when evaluating curriculum design. 1995-96 Stanford Achievements Test Results Grade 4 National Individual Percentile Rank Test MWE MOH Total Reading 80 79 - Sounds & Letters/Word Study Skills NA NA - Word Reading/Reading Vocabulary 78 77 - Sentence Reading/Reading Comp. 81 80 Mathematics/Total Mathematics 74 71 - Concepts of Numbers 78 71 - Mathematics Computation 60 63 - Mathematics Applications 82 78 Language/Total Language/English 64 61 - Language Mechanics 62 58 - Language Expression 66 63 Spelling 64 58 Study Skills 61 60 Environment NA NA Science 79 78 Social Science 73 71 Listening 73 75 Using Information 70 68 Thinking Skills 80 77 Basic Battery 73 71 Complete Battery 75 72 Finally, I resolve to report, as I did at the PT0 meeting of November 12, to the community on the results of State and standardized tests each November at the PT0 meeting and each December in the Moharimet News. As always, I want you to be able to support your child's teacher and school. All research proclaims that a strong bond between home and school is needed to assist children in both becoming the best that they can be academically and in becoming productive, useful citizens. Sincerely, Dennis J. Harrington, Principal

MOH News Staff Kathi DiSesa 868-5320 Jean Marquis 659-2054 Lorraine Murphy 868-1809 Claire Powell 868-1545 Kim Cohen

Last update on 31-Mar-99 at 10:16 PM.

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