There were three major topics of discussion at last night’s School Committee meeting. Perhaps the most important was a review by Assistant Superintendent Phelan and Martha Sherman, ELA and Social Studies Coordinator and Title 1 Director of the school’s MCAS and Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) reports.

Overall the schools are doing well and the district as a whole has a “not status” rating, a term is somewhat counter intuitive. In fact, it is the highest rating a school or district can have. The ratings from highest to lowest are: no status, improvement, corrective action, and restructuring.

There are areas of concern at Tucker and Cunningham. School’s progress is evaluated both in “aggregate” and for “subgroups.” Subgroups include African-Americans, Special Ed students, and a couple other demographic subgroups. Tucker did not make AYP for either aggregate or subgroups in English Language Arts (ELA). However in Math, Tucker improved for both groups. Cunningham also did not make AYP in aggregate. Glover, Pierce, and MHS all did well, though Pierce did not make AYP for ELA in subgroups.

The school that stood out was Collicot. Collicot has seen high growth 2 years in a row. It was one of only 189 schools acknowledged by the state for its high growth (the administration did not has an exact number but estimated there may be ~3000 schools in the state). It is a remarkable achievement. Principal Schultz was present at last night’s meeting and attributed the success to his faculty and thanked them for their  efforts and dedication.

You can find comprehensive MCAS results and more on the web site for Massachusetts Elementary and Secondary Education.  You can find it here. Note there is a drop down in the upper right which enables you to drill down to the individual school.

Ms. Sherman went on to explain that the state’s are modifying how the gauge schools and districts in terms of progress. The issue with AYP was that the better a school performed the harder it became for a school to perform. As Ms. Sherman described it, it was a “growth model in which we aware getting to the ‘water from a rock’ area.” The state understood the issue and now progress is a function of growth and achievement. Though it is an improvement in how progress is measured, it is not much easier to understand. With the growth model students progress is viewed in relation to the progress made by other students with similar profile. For example, a student may have had a small achievement gain in the last year. However, similar students may have seen no gain or slipped slightly. Therefore, that student’s growth would in fact be very good. The reverse is also true. One graph that helped illustrate the model was a simple chart with the Y axis representing achievement and the X axis representing growth. The goal is to have schools in the upper right quadrant which represents good growth and good achievement. Letters will be going out today to parents with their child’s growth progress.  It will also show student’s progress as it compares ot the school and the district.

Phelan also reiterated that the advent of Massachusetts moving to the National COmmon Core curriculum will not mean the end of MCAS. The state is due to integrate with the Common Core and revise accordingly in 2012-2013. The MCAS will remain in place. Phelan noted that Milton was in the top 6% of high schools according to Newsweek and said that there are a number of important criteria for gauging student performance. and achievement. MCAS is only one. There is also student participation in athletics and activities, community engagement, other test scores (e.g. SATs), graduation rates (98.6%), and college acceptance rates (95%).

The presentation from Phelan and Sherman will be posted to the MPS website.

Ms. Gormley then reflected on her performance over the past year. The words came with Gormley’s characteristic volume and velocity which were beyond the capacity of some to capture. She spoke to the goals that had been established and the variety of steps and measures she had taken to address them. She cited the presentation by Phelan as indicative of academic achievement which was her overriding goal. She noted improvements that had been made in communication with parents, town hall, and the community at large. Other key issues that occurred over the past year included making a number of critical hires. These include two elementary principals, Ms. Stephanie Nephew at Glover and Dr. Karen Spaulding at Cunningham (Note: these principals will appear on the local cable program MyTownMatters this week end. Please see MATV programming guide here.) The most recent was made at this meeting; Dr. Pat Duval will be the interim Director of Pupil Services. She is replacing Jeff Rubin who is leaving to be the head of school at the Willow Hill School in Sudbury. “We hire strong,” said Gormley. After she was done Lynda Lee Sheridan, Chairman of the School Committee, said, “We are lucky to have you.”

The School Committee removed the Superintendent’s goals from the agenda for this meeting. They will discuss their response to her “reflection” and outline goals going forward at a future meeting.

Other business incldued but was not limited to:

• John Davis of Milton Boosters presented the plans for the Boosters signature fundraising event – a gold and tennis tournament to be held at Wollaston Golf Club on Monday, October 18. All are encouraged to join in. Ability is not a barrier. He noted it should be a gorgeous fall day. The entry fee for golf is $175 and for tennis $75. The entry fee includes greens fees, a box lunch, and a reception with hors d’oevres. For info contact Mr. Davis at jdavis@cahilldavisgroup.com. Wollaston Golf Club is donating all greens fees and carts and Curry College is donating the food so proceeds will be going directly to benefit athletic programs a the schools.
• Denis Keohane was appointed to represent the schools at the MASC conference.
• Mary McLaughlin and Margaret Eberhardt from the Milton Foundation for Education spoke. The foundation celebrated their 15th birthday this year and served cake at the open houses that took place at the schools. Their annual gala will be in the spring this year (April 2nd at the Quincy Marriott). But while you are waiting – you can still run in another of their annual events; the Monster Dash is coming up in October (Details to follow. )
• The committee voted to award a contract to BCM Controls for the installation of surveillance cameras at the Pierce and High schools. The cost is $275,445 which is being underwritten by grants and donations. Ms. Kelly asked that a formal policy be established for the vetting and awarding of contracts by the committee.
• At the suggestion of Mr. Huban a sub committee will be formed to evaluate the merits of school choice. Interested parties should a member of the school committee.