Schools

HS Science Curriculum to Be Aligned Due to Low MCAS Scores

The town has published a report on recent MCAS output, and while overall Wellesley did well, science fell behind the mark.

The Wellesley School System as a whole did well on the most recent MCAS test, but because the town’s Science, Engineering and Technology high school scores fell short of expectations, there will be some adjustments made to the curriculum going forward.

Wellesley had the lowest percentage of 10thgrade students to place in either “advanced” or “proficient” for science scores when compared to a cluster of like high schools. Wellesley was at 75 percent, which was nine percentage points lower than the second lowest scoring school in 10th grade science, Lincoln-Sudbury.

School officials presented an overview of Wellesley’s MCAS scores at a meeting Tuesday night, in which they detailed how the high school science curriculum could shift in the future.

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Grade’s 9, 10 and 11 science curriculums are not aligned when compared to other districts in that Wellesley Grade 9 teaches earth science where most other districts teach physical science, Wellesley Grade 10 teaches chemistry where other districts teach biology and Wellesley Grade 11 teaches biology while other districts teach chemistry.

The full report, available at the Wellesley School’s website, offers a comprehensive numerical insight into this year’s MCAS scores.

Find out what's happening in Wellesleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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