Patrick visits Lynn school to boast of test success

LYNN - Fifth-grade students at the Aborn Elementary School were treated to a private conversation with Gov. Deval Patrick Tuesday, prior to his official declaration that Massachusetts has outscored every other state in the country on four National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exams.

It is the first time that any state has achieved this distinction twice, as Massachusetts' students also finished first in four categories in 2005.

The NAEP, or the "National Report Card" is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in core subjects - math, reading science and writing.

The NAEP assesses representative samples of students in all 50 states and reports state-level results for grades four and eight every two years.

Patrick chose to speak to the Aborn fifth-graders, who took the test last year as fourth-graders, simply because he wanted to find a school that was deeply involved in the testing and had good scores overall, according to the state Department of Education (DOE). The DOE did not provide statistics from individual schools.

He spent about 20 minutes speaking with students and teachers privately in the third-floor computer room, before opening up the meeting to the public and making the official announcement on the test scores.

"We know how much it takes and how hard you work, how much focus it takes (to test well)," Patrick said to the students. "We know that these teachers care about you and motivate you to perform well and get to this point. We also know that no one who is in a classroom every day believes that a test is enough to evaluate students. We have to be about educating the whole child."

In 2007, Massachusetts' fourth-graders ranked first nationwide on the reading and math exams, and the state's eighth-graders ranked first in math and tied for first with Montana, New Jersey and Vermont in reading.

In addition, Patrick announced that students eligible for free and reduced lunch made significant gains on test scores. The state did not have a significant decrease in any test category.

Results show that since 2005, the last year the tests were administered, Massachusetts' students made significant gains in three of the four exams, scoring 58 percent of students proficient in grade-four math, up from 49 percent two years ago; 49 percent in grade-four reading up from 44 percent and 51 percent in grade-eight math, topping the 43 percent in 2005.

"These results show yet again that Massachusetts students can out-perform their peers from around the country and the students and teachers should be congratulated for their hard work," said House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, who was also on hand to congratulate the students.

"Our success on NAEP and on the MCAS exams show that, through reform and steady improvement, we have built a solid foundation in Massachusetts. As we reach higher, we must build upon that platform to help our students compete even better in the increasingly global economy."

Patrick stressed that as long as there is still a gap in achievement and funding that there is still work to be done, and urged students across the state to strive toward even higher achievement in the future.

Although he briefly addressed funding problems that have forced fee hikes and budget cuts across the state, he stopped short of offering a solution to the state's education funding crisis. One thing he did say, however, was that potential revenue from casinos would be earmarked for the repair of bridges and infrastructure across the state, not education.

With politics seemingly the last thing on his mind, Patrick took time to greet students, patiently answer their questions and shake everyone's hand on the way out, even stopping by other classrooms to meet students in other grades.

"This is a great thing for Lynn to have this announcement here," said Superintendent Nicholas Kostan. "It is so exciting for the schools, and exciting for these kids, to actually have Governor Patrick come here and talk to them. It says a lot about the progress being made statewide and a lot about the progress made here in Lynn."

Aborn students presented Patrick with a t-shirt and a book on the history of Lynn, written by students. Patrick returned the favor by donating two books to the school library.

"It is an honor to have the Governor here," said Aborn Principal Anne Graul. "It is a direct reflection on the efforts of all of the students."

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