Widening racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps on state test scores were a main concern of the Cambridge School Committee’s Tuesday night discussion, where administrators presented on this year’s humanities data.
State testing data from last school year was released late September and revealed that while Cambridge’s overall scores increased, achievement gaps widened and some district schools significantly outperformed others.
The focus of Tuesday night’s meeting was data from ELA tests, where 59% of students in grades 3-8 met or exceeded grade level expectations, and civics tests, where 51% of those students met or exceeded expectations. That data improved from last year while the statewide trend moved in the opposite direction. But high school ELA scores declined this year, also mirroring the state trend.
“We’re not where we want to be as a school system or where we have a moral obligation to be as a school system, given the resources at our disposal,” Superintendent David Murphy said at the meeting. He added that “there is a responsibility to recognize and to celebrate the things that we are doing well.”
Achievement gaps widened this year across racial and socioeconomic lines, which raised concern from some committee members and public commenters. The ELA achievement gap between White and Black students in grades 3-8 grew by one percentage point from last year, for example, and that gap widened even more in STEM subjects.
Similar disparities exist across socioeconomic lines. While students from low-income households in Cambridge scored nine points higher than the state average, students from other income brackets were 23 points higher, said Jennifer Amigione, the district’s director of data, assessment & accountability. She presented the data at Tuesday’s meeting alongside Chief Academic Officer Heather Francis.
Concerns voiced
During public comment, district parent Larry Kim said he was “shocked” to see how “unremarkable” the data was. Another parent, Sebastian Arnold, called the data “more concerning” the more he looked into it.
The effects of the pandemic also highlight the achievement gap. Low-income students in grades 3-8 are nine percentage points below pre-2019 ELA levels and Black students are nine points below pre-2019 levels. Non-low income students, on the other hand, are five points above data from before the pandemic and White students are six points above.
Committee Member Elizabeth Hudson said she wanted more clarity around a plan to address gaps. “We can’t keep piling Band-Aids on,” Hudson said.
Tier one instruction (classroom teaching), was a topic of discussion, with Murphy asking, “How do we make sure that our tier one instruction is such that it is reaching a broader swath of students and not overly relying on interventions?”
Administrators and Committee Members also discussed targeting supports earlier at students falling behind.
Strategic plan will target gaps
Addressing achievement gaps will be an element of the district’s next four-year strategic plan, according to an update on the plan given by Committee Vice-Chair Caitlin Dube during the meeting.
The schools with the lowest overall MCAS performance — Fletcher Maynard Academy, Haggerty School, Graham and Parks, King Open, and Cambridge Street Upper School — were also discussed. These schools have trailed in achievement data in recent years, with 50% or less of students in grades 3-8 meeting expectations in ELA last year, for instance.
Committee Member Richard Harding focused his concerns on disparities across the district’s schools. “We have four [elementary??] schools that half of the students, young people in those schools, are not meeting the standard,” Harding said. “This is a school on fire anywhere else in the world.”
The results from last year represent the first full testing cycle in which passing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) was not a graduation requirement. Supporters of the 2024 ballot question that removed the requirement argued that it placed disproportionate emphasis on standardized testing.
Other supplements to MCAS testing exist within the district, like i-Ready exams, which were rolled out in 2022 and are administered three times a year. Unlike the MCAS, i-Ready exams feature adaptive questions, meaning they are adjusted throughout an exam session based on a student’s responses.
A relationship between the district’s MCAS and i-Ready data exists, Murphy said at the meeting, but is much more tightly correlated in math due to the nature of the MCAS writing requirements.
The committee will hear from administrators about math and science MCAS data at their next regular meeting Oct. 20.
Other updates to come out of the Oct. 6 meeting of the School Committee included:
- The committee’s two student representatives gave an update on high-school happenings, like the beginning of Senior Spirit Week, where seniors dress in festive clothing and participate in school spirit activities. The PSAT will be administered on Friday Oct. 9 and the National Honors Society will soon host its first hygiene drive with an updated volunteer policy. Some students have also organized a petition to bring back the high school girls’ basketball coach who was recently let go.
- A formal recommendation from the Superintendent on the future of 158 Spring Street will likely be issued before a special meeting of the committee later in October.
- On-time rates for buses are better than they were at the start of the previous school year, Murphy said, but the district continues to face issues, primarily with afternoon drop-off delays. These are being addressed with individual bus vendors.
- A motion requiring disciplinary consequences from the Superintendent against unauthorized drug possession or use by students failed 3-4. While the motion’s sponsors, Members Hudson and Harding, wanted more direct consequences to vaping on school grounds, opponents of the motion highlighted uncertainty about the policy’s practical effects.
- The committee approved a $29,480 contract with Edia Learning, an artificial intelligence math instructional program, in a 4-3 vote. Proponents of the tool spoke to its ability to provide live feedback to students, and emphasized that it was optional. Joel Peterson, a math teacher in the district, shared results of a survey that showed that half of the 22 math teachers at CRLS have Edia in their classrooms, but seven of the 11 have stopped using the technology.
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