Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

About: Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 49 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1699 citations.

Is There a Relationship between Physical Fitness and Academic Achievement? Positive Results from Public School Children in the Northeastern United States.

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: To determine relationships between physical fitness and academic achievement in diverse, urban public school children. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used public school data from 2004 to 2005. Academic achievement was assessed as a passing score on Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) achievement tests in Mathematics (fourth, sixth, and eighth grade, n = 1103) and in English (fourth and seventh grade, n = 744). Fitness achievement was assessed as the number of physical fitness tests passed during physical education (PE). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the probability of passing the MCAS tests, controlling for students’ weight status (BMI z score), ethnicity, gender, grade, and socioeconomic status (school lunch enrollment). RESULTS: The odds of passing both the MCAS Mathematics test and the MCAS English test increased as the number of fitness tests passed increased (p < .0001 and p < .05, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Results show statistically significant relationships between fitness and academic achievement, though the direction of causation is not known. While more research is required, promoting fitness by increasing opportunities for physical activity during PE, recess, and out of school time may support academic achievement.

Generating knowledge of academic language among urban middle school students

Abstract: A quasi-experimental study of a novel, cross-content area vocabulary intervention program called Word Generation showed significantly greater growth among 6th- to 8th-grade students in schools implementing the program than in comparison schools, on a curriculum-specific test. Furthermore, the language-minority students in the treatment, but not the comparison, schools showed greater growth than the English-only students. Improvement on the curriculum-specific test predicted performance on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) English language arts assessment, again only for students in the treatment schools. Recognizing the need to implement a more rigorous experimental study of this program, nonetheless we conclude that participation in the intervention, with its focus on deep reading, comprehension of current-events topics, productive classroom discussion, developing arguments, and producing persuasive essays, was a plausible contributor to student performance on the MCAS.

Challenges in the No Child Left behind Act for English-Language Learners.

Abstract: One of the most controversial aspects of NCLB is its performance requirements for subgroups within the general student population. Mr. Abedi and Mr. Dietel examine the implications of these requirements for English-language learners and offer recommendations to help states, districts, and schools facilitate the progress of these students. THE NO CHILD Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 requires that all children, including English-language learners (ELLs), reach high standards by demonstrating proficiency in English language arts and mathematics by 2014. Schools and districts must help ELL students, among other subgroups, make continuous progress toward this goal, as measured by performance on state tests, or risk serious consequences. Through these mandates, NCLB establishes high expectations for all students and seeks to reduce the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students. These are worthy goals, which require extraordinary improvement in student learning. The challenges for English-language learners are especially difficult, involving both educational and technical issues, including: * Historically low ELL performance and very slow improvement. State tests show that ELL students' academic performance is far below that of other students, oftentimes 20 to 30 percentage points lower, and usually shows little improvement across many years. * Measurement accuracy. CRESST research shows that the language demands of tests negatively influence accurate measurement of ELL performance. For the ELL student, tests measure both achievement and language ability. * Instability of the ELL student subgroup. The goal of redesignating high-performing ELL students as language-proficient students causes high achievers among ELL students to exit the subgroup. The consequence is downward pressure on ELL test scores, worsened by the addition of new ELL students, who are typically low achievers. * Factors outside of a school's control. CRESST research shows substantial nonschool effects on student learning even within ELL subgroups. Schools are therefore unable to control all the factors related to student achievement. We elaborate on these ELL issues below and offer some suggestions to help schools meet the NCLB goals. Our comments are based on a series of research reports by Jamal Abedi and others. Low Performance and Slow Improvement CRESST research, supported by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and state test results, shows that English-language learners consistently perform lower than other students and frequently lower than many other subgroups. The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) (a standards-based assessment chosen partly because it has collected six years of data) offers a good example. In 1998, the first year of MCAS, only 7% of ELL students in the Boston Public Schools and 8% of ELL students in Massachusetts overall reached the level of proficient or above in 10th-grade English language arts. This compares unfavorably with the statewide figure of 38% proficient or above for all students -- a gap of approximately 30 percentage points. In the next few years, perhaps spurred by the adoption of the 10th- grade English language arts assessment as a graduation requirement,1 Massachusetts 10th-grade English language arts scores improved substantially, reaching 61% proficient or above statewide in 2003. However, by 2003, the gap between ELL students and Massachusetts students overall had increased to 49 percentage points: 61% for all students versus 12% for ELL students. In Boston, the state's largest district, with approximately 10% ELL students, the gap grew as well, beginning at 11 percentage points in 1998 and increasing to 20 percentage points in 2003. Rapid progress by students overall, combined with policies that test ELL students who have lived in the United States for very short periods of time, both have contributed to a growing ELL achievement gap in many states and school districts. …

Linking Student Performance in Massachusetts Elementary Schools with the ``Greenness'' of School Surroundings Using Remote Sensing

Abstract: Various studies have reported the physical and mental health benefits from exposure to "green" neighborhoods, such as proximity to neighborhoods with trees and vegetation. However, no studies have explicitly assessed the association between exposure to "green" surroundings and cognitive function in terms of student academic performance. This study investigated the association between the "greenness" of the area surrounding a Massachusetts public elementary school and the academic achievement of the school's student body based on standardized tests with an ecological setting. Researchers used the composite school-based performance scores generated by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) to measure the percentage of 3rd-grade students (the first year of standardized testing for 8-9 years-old children in public school), who scored "Above Proficient" (AP) in English and Mathematics tests (Note: Individual student scores are not publically available). The MCAS results are comparable year to year thanks to an equating process. Researchers included test results from 2006 through 2012 in 905 public schools and adjusted for differences between schools in the final analysis according to race, gender, English as a second language (proxy for ethnicity and language facility), parent income, student-teacher ratio, and school attendance. Surrounding greenness of each school was measured using satellite images converted into the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in March, July and October of each year according to a 250-meter, 500-meter, 1,000-meter, and 2000-meter circular buffer around each school. Spatial Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) estimated the impacts of surrounding greenness on school-based performance. Overall the study results supported a relationship between the "greenness" of the school area and the school-wide academic performance. Interestingly, the results showed a consistently positive significant association between the greenness of the school in the Spring (when most Massachusetts students take the MCAS tests) and school-wide performance on both English and Math tests, even after adjustment for socio-economic factors and urban residency.

The Relative Equitability of High-Stakes Testing versus Teacher-Assigned Grades: An Analysis of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS)

Abstract: Which is more equitable, teacher-assigned grades or high-stakes tests? Nationwide, there is a growing trend toward the adoption of standardized tests as a means to determine promotion and graduation. "High-stakes testing" raises several concerns regarding the equity of such policies. In this article, the authors examine the question of whether high-stakes tests will mitigate or exacerbate inequities between racial and ethnic minority students and White students, and between female and male students. Specifically, by comparing student results on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) with teacher-assigned grades, the authors analyze the relative equitability of the two measures across three subject areas — math, English, and science. The authors demonstrate that the effects of high-stakes testing programs on outcomes, such as retention and graduation, are different from the results of using grades alone, and that some groups of students who are already faring poorly, such as African Ameri...