Vineyard schools see MCAS gains, but pandemic still lingers

Vineyard educators say Island students are making progress in recovering from the impacts of COVID-19 and have outperformed their peers across the state based on the latest statewide standardized testing results, but, much like the rest of Massachusetts, scores have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. 

State officials recently released results of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, underscoring that work was still needed to improve learning outcomes across the state. Only 63 of hundreds of school districts that teach grades three through eight returned to pre-pandemic levels in either English language arts or math; 13 districts achieved both. None of the Island schools that teach these grade levels reached test results achieved before COVID-19 this year.  

Still, Vineyard school officials said that they have made progress in the last three years, and are ranking higher than the average Massachusetts schools.

“Overall, when we look at our progress and growth compared to other schools, I’m really pleased,” said Richie Smith, Martha’s Vineyard superintendent. 

Smith highlighted that Vineyard schools have continued to improve over the last three years on their performance, showing strong results this year. Smith said he is especially proud of the performance of English Language Learners. 

The state’s accountability reports deemed that Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School and Tisbury School made moderate progress toward its goals, Chilmark School and Edgartown School met or exceeded their targeted goals, and Oak Bluffs School and West Tisbury School made substantial progress.

There were some standouts where administrators wanted to see room for improvement. Smith noted that Tisbury School, which he said is historically a high achieving school, did dip a little compared to last year. He said this will be reviewed with the school’s staff and committee.

The scores were the first to be released since Massachusetts voters backed getting rid of the test as a high school graduation requirement at the polls in November — forcing schools to find alternative measures of student competency. However, the MCAS will still be administered to meet certain requirements in state laws and the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. 

Among the Vineyard high school sophomores taking the test, 56 percent of 175 students met or exceeded English expectations, 50 percent of 173 students met or exceeded math expectations, and 47 percent of 101 students met or exceeded science expectations. At comparable schools, 51 percent met or exceeded in English, 45 percent met or exceeded in math, and 46 percent met or exceeded in science. Meanwhile, other Vineyard schools were at or nearly the same level as other schools in the state. Tisbury was the only exception. 

Massachusetts is still considered a top state in education but COVID-19’s hit to student learning — including reading, math, and social skills — is expected to take years to recover from. Vineyard schools also experienced learning strains from the pandemic. State officials still want to eventually surpass 2019 levels, but the first step is to get back to that baseline.

“We’re still recovering,” said Sean Mulvey, Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School principal who was a guidance counselor during the pandemic. Mulvey said that  students who had to learn during the pandemic lockdowns are likely still catching up. But the new principal highlighted efforts at the high school to combat these difficulties, like an increased amount of math being taught to Island high schoolers and a co-teaching model, which has two or more teachers in a classroom, helping English language learners and students with disabilities. 

Based on the most recent MCAS scores, he was pleased with the school’s progress and praised his students — especially the “really, really high” scores of students who were English language learners and had disabilities. He was optimistic about the steps ahead, highlighting the school was hitting its educational goals. 

“That to me means a lot of things are going well,” Mulvey said. 

At other Island schools, administrators are seeing places to improve. Nearly a quarter of some elementary school grades did not meet English language arts expectations. But West Tisbury School principal Donna Lowell-Debettencourt said the assessments showed growth in the schools and students. 

“Students are rebounding from COVID,” Lowell-Debettencourt said. 

Peter Steedman, director of Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School said charter school leaders and state officials are “constantly trying to fight the negative impact of COVID,” but recognized it’ll be a gradual process. MCAS, Steedman said, was a good measuring tool for student progress. He also highlighted that students in different years experienced COVID differently. For example, current kindergarteners were born in 2020, the year COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. “We always pay attention to COVID impact, especially the young students,” he said. 

The Charter School needed focused/targeted support, according to the state based on the most recent scores. The charter school had received this designation last year too, but Steedman told the Times it wasn’t a concern for the school. He highlighted the designation was due to lower participation rates for the test and while the school encourages students to take the MCAS, it is just one “measure of student success.” 

Steedman noted that the state gave the charter school an accountability rating of 41 percent, an over-tripling from last year’s 11 percent. He said that reflected on the learning outcome of the students, among other factors. 

“We’re very pleased with our results while recognizing there’s room for growth,” Steedman said. 

MCAS is administered to students in grades three through eight and high school sophomores to determine the progress schools are making and how they compare to students from peer schools, which are determined by qualities like student population, number of teachers, and funding levels. Across the state, the vast majority of Massachusetts schools, 82 percent, were deemed to not need assistance or intervention. Over half of schools, 55 percent, met, exceeded, or made substantial progress toward their goals. The statewide trends of the test scores showed improvements in English scores, science scores remained the same for fifth graders and went down for eighth and tenth graders, and math scores were flat for grades three through eight while they declined somewhat for tenth graders.