Music, Art & MCAS

It's been an interesting week! This week, waiting for the buses at the end of the day, I have loved watching the fourth graders with their new instruments! Having just had their first lesson, they can't resist opening the case, looking at the shiny, beautiful instrument, and showing it to their friends. It's an exciting time for them, an opportunity to begin something that can give them a lifetime of joy. Meanwhile, inside the school, appearing on the bulletin boards and walls, are more and more wonderful contour drawings of backpacks and jackets, part of an art project related to Andrew Clements' book The Jacket, which we are all reading as part of this fall's "One School, One Read" project. Our students are studying the illustrations in the book, thinking about how they relate to the story, and learning to produce beautiful drawings themselves -- another beginning of something that can give them a lifetime of joy. Whether our students become proficient musicians or artists, or simply learn to appreciate it and enjoy it, the arts I believe are a fundamental part of a good education for a good life, and I love watching our students exploring, learning, and enjoying music and art.

Also this week we received our students' MCAS scores from last spring, which focus primarily on two areas of learning -- math and English language arts. (Fifth graders are also tested on science knowledge.) As always, our students did well on the tests, but there have been some changes this year which make it more difficult to use the tests as a diagnostic tool. The most significant change is that the state is no longer releasing all the test items. This is understandable in these days of budget difficulties, but it makes it difficult to use the tests to help students or our school improve. An example from this past week was a question I received from a parent asking why her child received a "needs improvement" on the 3rd grade ELA test despite answering all items other than one correctly. After investigation, I found that most of the child's incorrect answers had been on items that were not being released. To make it even more confusing, the parent report includes only the 13 released items, and does not indicate the 29 unreleased items. Unfortunately, we cannot look at the questions that this child answered incorrectly and analyze what help, if any is needed. It's also worth noting that changes in the "cut scores" this year have also changed the percentage of students in the "needs improvement" category, particularly on the 4th grade math test. Please do call if you have particular questions, and please also be aware that these tests are difficult and are intended primarily as benchmarks or diagnostic tools in the years prior to high school.

Looking back on the week, and thinking about the opportunities we provide for our students, I would say, as always, that we need to pay attention to the results of the testing, but make sure that we maintain a balance, and continue to provide those elements of an excellent education, such as the arts, that may not be tested, but that nevertheless are important parts of a well-rounded education.