City School Stands Alone in Survey: University Park Urban High Rated Highest-Performing
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Clive McFarlane
November 20, 2003
WORCESTER- The University Park Campus School, which this year placed all 31 of its graduates in college, was judged to be the only high-performing urban high school in the state by MassINC.
In a study being released today, the organization said it had tried to identify the highest-performing urban high schools in the state, but had to switch gears when UPCS turned out to be the only school consistently performing at high levels.
To qualify as high-performing in the study, an urban high school had to show, among other things, a poverty rate of at least 45 percent, a minority student enrollment of 35 percent or more, an 80 percent or higher passing rate on the MCAS 10th-grade English exam and 65 percent or higher passing rate on the 10th-grade MCAS math test.
The qualifying school also needed an attendance rate of 90 percent or better, a dropout rate of less than 5 percent, and 60 percent of its students planning to attend a four-year or two-year college.
The schools also needed to achieve or surpass state and federal Adequate Yearly Progress goals on the MCAS tests.
While UPCS was the only school in which students consistently performed at the high standards, eight other schools statewide were selected as the highest-performing among their peers, according to criteria adopted for the study.
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However, except for UPCS, each of the eight schools continues to have considerable portions of students performing poorly and some students who have experienced declines, the report said.
"The real story here is all the other schools that are not performing at a high standard," said S. Paul Reville, executive director of the Center for Education Research and Policy at MassINC.
"We have redefined the work of educators," he said. "Instead of getting some students over the bar, we are asking them to get all students to become high achievers. That is hard work in urban schools, and there are huge gaps to be closed."
The state must develop a clear strategy for struggling urban schools, according to Mr. Reville.
He said the schools highlighted in the study share characteristics such as high standards and expectations, small learning communities, personalized instruction, data-driven curricula and strong community relationships.
"If we believe small learning communities increase academic success, how to work with local school districts to make that possible should be among the strategies state policy-makers should be considering," Mr. Reville said.
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