2017 DESE School & District Report Cards published

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December 2017

Dear Parent or Guardian:

We are pleased to share annual district and school based report cards published by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education as required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).  The report cards contain information about school and district accountability, achievement, our students and teachers, and other important measures of school performance.  Click on the link to read the complete report cards for the Weston District; Country School; Woodland School; Field School; Weston Middle School; and Weston High School.

The first page of the report card contains important accountability information:

  • Accountability and Assistance Levels: Schools and districts are placed into one of five accountability and assistance levels (1-5), with the highest rating being Level 1 and lowest rating being Level 5. Our district has been given an accountability designation of “no level” because students in our schools participated in the 2017 Next-Generation MCAS tests.
  • School Percentiles: A school percentile between 1 and 99 is reported for most schools. This number shows the overall performance of our school relative to other schools that serve the same or similar grades. Next Generation MCAS Schools, Country, Woodland, Field and Middle will not be given a school percentile rating as this is a base-line year for the new assessment. Weston High School percentile rating is 87%. This means that Weston High School is performing higher than 87 percent of the high schools in the state.
  • Progress and Performance Index (PPI): The PPI is a number that indicates a school’s progress toward narrowing proficiency gaps, or, in other words, helping all students reach proficiency and be prepared for success after high school. Massachusetts has set a goal of reducing proficiency gaps by half between the years 2011 and 2017. For a group of students to be considered to be making sufficient progress toward narrowing proficiency gaps, its cumulative PPI must be 75 or higher. Next Generation MCAS Schools, Country, Woodland, Field and Middle will not be given a PPI as this is a base-line year for the new assessment. Only Weston High School reflects gap narrowing ratings.

The first page of the report card also shows how students in each school are performing on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests. Achievement and progress information is reported for each school and is also compared to the performance of our district and the state.

The second page of the report card provides information about the students and teachers in our school as compared to the district and the state. Also included are other important measures of school performance, such as attendance, suspension rates, and high school performance.

We continue to focus on increasing student achievement and improving student performance in our schools by:

  • Analyzing data to identify strategic actions
  • Supporting students in a variety of ways (individually, small group) through research-based programs and aligned curriculum, and targeted interventions
  • Weston educators have made supporting the growth of all students a priority. A specific focus is on narrowing two performance gaps: between all students and students with disabilities, and between all students and African American/Black students
  • Enriching programs by including multiple pathways to learning

Finally, if your child attends a school that receives federal Title I funds (Weston Middle School or Weston High School), you also have the right to request the following information about the qualifications of your child’s classroom teachers:

  • Whether your child’s teacher is licensed in the grade levels and subject areas they teach
  • Whether your child’s teacher is teaching under an emergency license or waiver
  • The college degree and major of your child’s teacher
  • Whether your child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications

For more information about what we are doing to improve student achievement or to request information about the qualifications of your child’s classroom teachers, please feel free to contact us at 781-786-5200.

For a full copy of this report card, or to see report cards for other schools in the state, visit profiles.doe.mass.edu.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marguerite Connolly, Superintendent

Dr. Abbie J. Lareau, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching & Learning