Enrollment down, choice up in Lenox

LENOX – At a recent meeting of the Lenox School Committee, Superintendent Edward W. Costa II shared the updated enrollment numbers for the district.

While overall enrollment is at 791 (down 13 from 804 last year), school choice enrollment is up to 227 (nine more than the 218 last year).

Dr. Costa also shared the 2012 SAT results for Lenox students. They performed well ahead of the state and national averages in all areas (reading, math, writing and composite scores), with averages of 584, 563, 573 and 1720 (respectively), an improvement from their own numbers in 2011.

“It’s another indicator of good teaching and great students,” he said.

New elementary school report cards

Morris Elementary School Principal Timothy J. Lee also shared a draft of the school’s new report cards, which mark a shift to more standards-based evaluation.

“[The old report card] was outdated; it did not reflect the current core standards,” he said.

Students will be given a “meets standard,” “progressing” or “not meeting standard” mark in specific areas such as math, reading and writing. For example, third graders will be evaluated on their abilities to “fluently add and subtract within 100” in math and “demonstrate understanding of text structures and features for literary texts, informational texts in poetry” in reading.

“This represents months of work from the teachers, curriculum specialists and our computer teacher,” Principal Lee said of the new report card. “Parents will have a better idea of what to work on.”

Students’ skills and traits in science, social studies, music, art, work habits, social development, technology and physical education will be ranked on a scale of 1-4, with a “4” indicating a student “consistently” demonstrates a specific skill and a “1” indicating the skill is “not evident at this time.” Third, fourth and fifth graders, for example, will be evaluated on their time usage (under work habits) and responsible use of electronic media (under technology).

To further explain this new grading system to parents, a cover letter will be attached to the front of report cards, and more explanation will be given at Morris’ parent information night.

“I think the alignment with standards is perfect,” School Committee Chairman Don W. Fitzgerald said of the new report cards. “The elementary school has to go in this direction.”

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on October 4, 2012. Filed under Education News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry