John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School NCLB 2013 Report Card

NCLB 2013 Report Card

Dear John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School Parent or Guardian:

I am pleased to direct you to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Click Here for the Nichols Middle School 2013 NCLB Report Card Overview) to access our school “report card.”  It contains information about student enrollment, teacher qualifications, student achievement, accountability, how our school is performing relative to other schools, and the progress our school is making toward narrowing proficiency gaps for different groups of students.

Improvement of our MCAS scores is something that we as a school community know and understand that we need to do; for success to us will only be when we have 100% of our NMS students in the Advanced and Proficient ranges.

Report cards help parents/guardians and the general public see where schools and districts are succeeding and where there is still work to do. This report card overview answers important questions about our school's performance.

Below is a glimpse of some of the data you will find on the DESE link for our Report Card.  There are also 2 other links from this one to click on for our School Accountability Report (Accountability Report) and also the Complete Report Card (Complete Report Card), whereas the above is the overview.

If you would like a paper copy of this information, please ask the Main Office and we would be happy to provide you with this information.

Thank you,

Martin R. Geoghegan

Principal

How is our school doing overall? Accountability and assistance levels Our school Not meeting gap narrowing goals Our district One or more schools in the district classified into Level 3 Most schools are assigned a level from 1-5, with those meeting their proficiency gap-narrowing goals in Level 1 and the lowest performing in Levels 4 and 5. A district is typically assigned a level based on the level of its lowest performing school. Placing schools and districts into levels helps districts know which schools need more support, and helps the state know which districts need the most assistance. More information is available here: http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/accountability. School percentile School percentiles (1-99) indicate how a school is performing overall compared to other schools that serve the same or similar grades. Our school's percentile is below. Lowest performing Highest performing Overall progress in narrowing gaps Massachusetts aims to reduce proficiency gaps by half between 2011 and 2017. All students Did Not Meet Target High needs students Did Not Meet Target Low income students Did Not Meet Target Students with disabilities Did Not Meet Target English language learners & former ELLs - How does our school's achievement over time compare to the district and the state? Percentage of students scoring proficient or above on Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), 2010-2013.

English language arts Mathematics Science 2010 2011 2012 2013 2010 2011 2012 2013 2010 2011 2012 2013 Our school % 70 71 72 69 48 43 43 47 33 32 34 37 Middle Schools in our district % 69 71 71 69 47 43 43 47 32 32 34 37 Middle Schools in MA % 74 75 73 73 55 55 56 57 44 43 46 43

How does our school's growth compare to the district and the state? Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) measure gains in student achievement from year to year. Growth between 40 and 60 is considered typical. SGPs above 60 represent better than typical gains, while SGPs below 40 indicate lower than typical gains. Our school's median SGPs for 2013 are below. (Note: Growth values are truncated.) English language arts Mathematics Lower growth Higher growth 1 50 99 Lower growth Higher growth 1 50 99 Our school Middle Schools in our district Middle Schools in MA How does our school's enrollment compare to the district and the state? Total enrollment Our school Our district Our state 817 3,295 954,773 Our school Middle Schools in our district Middle Schools in MA By high needs population # % # % # % Low income students 266 32.6 266 32.6 60,523 34.7 Students with disabilities 156 19.1 156 19.1 30,358 17.4 English language learners 0 0.0 0 0.0 9,055 5.2 How do our school's teachers and classrooms compare to the district and the state? General information Our school Middle Schools in our district Middle Schools in MA Teachers (#) 52.0 52.0 13,304.2 Core academic classes taught by highly qualified teachers (%) 99.1 99.1 97.8 Average class size (#) 20.8 20.8 19.4 Student : teacher ratio 15.7 to 1 15.7 to 1 13.1 to 1 How is our school doing on other important measures? Attendance Our school Middle Schools in our district Middle Schools in MA Attendance rate (%) 94.8 94.8 93.4 Average days absent per student (#) 9.1 9.1 11.2 Discipline In-school suspension rate (%) 0.0 0.0 2.8 Out-of-school suspension rate (%) 6.9 6.9 5.7