The state's Department of Education Tuesday released stacks of data, much of it in the form of raw numbers, which constitute the results of last spring's round of controversial MCAS testing. Locally, officials caution against drawing grand conclusions from those test results. They say it will take several years before scores offer any meaningful measure of how well districts and students are meeting state education standards.
Parents can expect to receive the score from their children's testing in the mail today.
Officials caution parents to interpret the results with the understanding that students are in some cases being graded on material that is new to them. Northampton students also fared well compared to counterparts statewide, with most students in all grades earning scores higher or equal to state averages. Students at JFK Middle School topped state scores in English, math and science. They equaled statewide averages in history and social science, a subject that was tested for the first time this year and given only to eighth-graders. Students in all three grades at Hampshire Regional and Frontier Regional districts also scored higher than averages statewide in most subjects.