Archived Information

Assessment/Accountability School and District Accountability
Adequate Yearly Progress

School Performance Rating Process Overview - 1999

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will use the MCAS results to rate Massachusetts public schools. Beginning in the 2000-01 school year, schools will receive both performance and improvement ratings, in each content area and for overall performance. More specifically, the first cycle of the School Performance Rating Process will:

• Serve as a filter to identify schools that may be reviewed more extensively;
• Focus on moving student MCAS performance out of Failing and into Proficient/Advanced;
• Set specific improvement expectations, based on 1998 results, for each content area and for overall performance;
• Use the average of the 1999 and 2000 results to rate performance and improvement from the baseline (1998);
• Measure improvement using the average scaled score; and
• Include English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, and Science & Technology.

Performance Categories & Improvement Expectations

A school's 1998 MCAS results will place that school in a performance category for each content area and for overall performance. The baseline performance categories determine the improvement expectations.

Performance & Improvement Ratings

At the end of the cycle, a school will receive performance ratings based on the average of the 1999 and 2000 results and improvement ratings based on the comparison of those results to the baseline results (1998).

Interpretation of Ratings

A school's overall performance and improvement ratings will place it into one box on a 4x6 matrix. The matrix on the back of this page details the state actions associated with each box for the first cycle.

Interpretation of Accountability Ratings - State Action Guide