City MCAS scores up overall, but state puts one Mattapan school on trouble list

MCAS scores released today show Boston public schools getting their highest scores ever.

But officials acknowledged the Mattahunt Elementary School in Mattapan was one of just two schools in the entire state put on a list of troubled schools at potential risk of a state takeover. The designation means BPS has three years to boost test scores at the school and comes because of declining English and math scores over the past three years.

At a School Committee meeting tonight, School Superintendent Carol Johnson said the Mattahunt will join 20 other "high support" elementary and middle schools that will get extra resources to help them pull up their scores.

She said four of the "high support" schools now have high enough score that they should be taken off a state watch list, but that state education officials want to wait one more year before de-listing them. As a whole, Boston public-school MCAS scores remain below the state average.

Johnson added that while the citywide test scores overall are encouraging, a significant "achievement gap" remains - black and Hispanic male students score below black and Hispanic female students and below white and Asian students overall.