Brighton's Conservatory Lab Charter School Meets NCLB Adequate Yearly Progress Goals

The Boston Globe reported today on the release by the state Department of Education of how schools in the past year have met national performance metrics. Those U.S. goals -- Adequate Yearly Progress -- are required under the federal No Child Left Behind act.

Seven schools in the state that had not been meeting AYP standards this year made sufficient progress to bring them within the AYP standard. Five are in Boston, all of those five are elementary schools, and one is in Brighton: the state-chartered Conservatory Lab Charter School at 25 Arlington Street (space leased from St. Columbkille's parish). Twenty-eight schools in the state that were previously meeting the AYP standard, however, went in the other direction and are now classified as "identified for improvement"; nine of the schools declining in their AYP performance are in Boston, of which seven are high schools. Note that there are many more schools in Boston that are currently failing to meet AYP standards, including many in Allston-Brighton; this news story only reported on those schools whose status changed from last year to this year.

Earlier this year, I reported on how the Conservatory Lab Charter School was doing well in comparison to its peer schools in Boston, but not in comparison to the state average. The school is using a very novel approach: starting in first grade, all students learn to play the violin, with music integrated into all aspects of the curriculum. In June I wrote:

As the school moves forward, it will be interesting to see if this experiment in music-based education can beat its competition in Boston and Massachusetts.

I think the recent announcement by the state Department of Education on the school's improvement is the first indication of success for this innovative school. Congratulations to the staff, students, and parents on their success!

Conservatory Lab Charter School

The Boston Globe ran a story about Brighton's Conservatory Lab Charter School, located on the St. Columbkille's property. Conservatory Lab is the only state-chartered school in Brighton, and includes elementary grades kindergarten (K2) through five. As a charter school it is required to hold a lottery for entrance when the number of applicants exceeds available spaces.

Its innovative feature is that every student, beginning in grade one, is given a violin to learn to play. All take daily music classes, two music lessons a week, perform throughout the year, and have music topics integrated into other subjects. An interesting approach to education to say the least, especially in this age of No Child Left Behind and MCAS.

Is it working? Yes and no.

[Executive Director Jonathan] Rappaport admits, though, that it has been a struggle to raise the MCAS scores of the students... Last year the school finished below the state average in a number of categories. However, it improved from the previous year, prompting the state Department of Education to say the school had achieved "adequate yearly progress" in math and English language arts. Rappaport says he expects further improvement this year.

The school's MCAS scores can be found online for 2006 and compared with Boston Public Schools and state-wide averages, as he noted. Here I'll pick out the CPI for comparison. The Composite Performance Index (0-100 with 100 being highest) is the degree to which students are progessing toward proficiency. MCAS starts with grade 3.

In grade 3 reading/math the school scores 82/65 compared with a BPS average of 66/63 and state average of 83/78. In grade 4 the school scores in ELA/Math at 76/70 compared to 62/62 for BPS and 79/73 for the state. In grade 5 the school scores in ELA/Math/Science at 70/45/52 compared to 69/57/57 for BPS and 84/70/78 for the state.

The school is therefore performing around the state average for half the indicators, and below the state average for the other half; grade 5 is below the state for all three tests. Comparison with BPS is more fair, though, because it is always a problem to compare urban with suburban or rural schools. The school is performing at or above the BPS average for all tests except for grade 5 math. A mixed bag.

As a state-chartered school, it has performance metrics to meet as part of its regular review: a five-year accountability plan (MS Word document). As the school moves forward, it will be interesting to see if this experiment in music-based education can beat its competition in Boston and Massachusetts.