8th grade math MCAS Next Generation

Students meeting or exceeding expectations on 8th grade math MCAS

Definition: Percent of all students in grade 8 scoring “meeting" or "exceeding expectations” on the mathematics Next Generation MCAS.

This indicator is included in the Performance & Engagement section of the Condition of Education in the Commonwealth Data Report focusing on high expectations and promoting rigorous content standards and aligned assessments. Equally important is an emerging commitment to support strategies that allow all students to focus on learning challenging content. This means creating inclusive school and classroom settings that promote academic achievement, while attending to the needs of the Commonwealth’s most at-risk populations.

Source: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: Next Generation MCAS Report for Grade 8 Students

*While comparing indicators, please keep in mind that different data sources use different definitions of student subgroups.

Blog

Rethinking Grading

March 28, 2024

Schools have assessed student learning and growth with essentially the same grading system for more than a century. Since this system was created, the field has learned so much more about the way students learn, the systemic inequities embedded in the design of traditional grading and assessment, and what type of learning leads to success in life. Grading should be aligned with what we know about the learning process, child and adolescent development, and the demands of career, college, and community life. But traditional grading is so deeply ingrained in our culture, that making changes to this system can seem like an insurmountable task. That’s why we partnered with DESE and reDesign to support five unique high schools as they interrogate their traditional grading practices and make shifts toward new systems that better measure student learning and growth.