Norwood Public Schools:

District and State Assessment Information

This page is periodically maintained by Dr. JJ Muñoz, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum for the Norwood Public Schools. Suggestions for improvement are always welcome.

District Testing Calendar
MCAS State Test Results. Also see DESE District and School Profiles
ACCESS State Test Results for ELLs: See DESE District and School Profiles
Accountability Results
State's Growth Model and How Student Growth Percentiles (SGP) Work
SAT Results: See DESE District and School Profiles
AP Results: See DESE District and School Profiles
Other Examples of Extraordinary Learning in NPS
State Report Cards for District and Schools
District Comparative Data (DART)
NPS District Improvement Plan (DIP)
Norwood Public Schools Demographic Changes 2005 to present

How Are Norwood Public Schools Doing?

The following links below were part of a School Committee presentation made by Dr. Alexander Wyeth, Assistant Superintendent, on October 19, 2016:

MCAS State Test Results. See DESE District and School Profiles
Accountability Overview

Based on our recent MCAS results and other common assessment data, each school leadership team reviews and updates their school's Improvement Plan (see each school website for their improvement plans as well as http://www.norwood.k12.ma.us/about/school-improvement-plans) and the district leadership team in turn updates the District Strategic Plan (see below).

In Spring of 2017, the Mass Department of Education implemented a new state test (MCAS 2.0 or NextGen MCAS) that will be a hybrid of the old MCAS and the PARCC tests. For more information go to http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/.

Our English Language Learners (ELL) are also required to take the state's ACCESS for ELLs test of English Language Proficiency (which replaced the MEPA tests in 2013). ACCESS assesses the student's skills in listening (15% of composite score), reading (35% of composite score), speaking (15% of composite score), and writing (35% of composite score). The ACCESS results are part of the state's new (2018) accountability system measuring ELL Progress toward Attainment of English Language Proficiency. Our ELL students typically meet their targets each year. If you think our ELL students are tested a lot, they are indeed!

State District and School Reports Cards: Accountability System

Information on the State's new accountability system. Additional performance information on the Norwood Public Schools can be found at The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education District and School Profiles Website. Select "Schools" at top right of page and then use drop down arrow to select one of our schools for their information. Reports Cards are found under the Accountability tab at top of page.

District Analysis and Review Tool (DART): The following site compares demographically comparable school districts with one another in terms of their MCAS performance and growth. As you can see, Norwood out performs most of the other 10 districts, with the exception of math growth: DART Data.

Norwood's District Strategic Improvement Plan:

Based on careful analysis of our assessment data, the superintendent and his administrative team developed the Strategic Plan.

Other District Highlights:

While student performance on standardized tests such as MCAS, SAT, and AP tests are important indicators of student achievement and school success, these tests only measure a narrow range of excellence and are not wholly reliable measures of intelligence and success, and therefore other non-standardized indicators must also be taken into consideration when trying to answer the question "How Are Norwood's Public Schools Doing?" As you can see in the following link, there is considerable extraordinary learning and achievement occurring in our schools: Some Examples of Extraordinary Learning and Achievement.

Measuring Student Growth and How it Works:

For information on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's (DESE) growth model (which began in 2009) and how it works, go to: Growth Model.

Here is a very clear 4 minute YouTube link by MTA that explains how Student Growth Percentiles (SGP) work.

District Determined Measures (DDMs):

Update: The DESE no longer requires all educators to use DDMs to demonstrate student growth for purposes of determining Student Impact Ratings as part of the educator evaluation system. Norwood Public Schools will be reviewing the DDMs we developed to determine which we will continue to use as reliable and valid evidence that students are learning, for monitoring student progress, and for informing our instructional practices. We will be asking for educators' input in making these decisions.

Criteria for DDMs (much like MCAS tests): these assessments must

be directly aligned to content (or other professional) standards and explicitly assess what they are supposed to;
be able to accurately show student learning, growth, and achievement from beginning of year (or unit) to end of year (or unit);
be informative; discriminate between strong and weak performers;
be free of bias (e.g., vocabulary background knowledge);
be comparable: equally rigorous across grades and content areas;
be administered similarly & consistently to all students (there must be a script for all test administrators);
be scored consistently across the system (the must be a scoring guide for all to use; preferably not scored by the student's own teacher);
be kept secure for use in subsequent years;
be relatively stable from year to year.