• Shawsheen Valley Technical High School

    2022 District Report Card Letter to Families

    Friday, February 17, 2023

     

     

    Dear Shawsheen Tech Families:

    Every year, each public school and school district in Massachusetts receives a report card. Just as your child’s report card shows how they are doing in different subjects, the school’s report card is designed to show families how our school is doing in different areas. A link to our school’s report card is available at https://reportcards.doe.mass.edu/2022/08710605.

    The report card includes multiple measures of a school’s performance – more than just MCAS scores. It represents a new way of looking at school performance, by providing information on student achievement, teacher qualifications, student learning opportunities, and more. Report cards are designed to be useful tools for everyone connected to our school. Families can use the information to have meaningful conversations with us about what the school is doing well and where there is room for improvement. Community and education leaders can use the information to better understand how to support students and our school.

    You will notice on our report card that we are doing well and surpassing state averages in a number of areas, including but not limited to: advanced coursework completion (SVTHS = 73.5%; state = 64.9%); grade 9 course passing rates (SVTHS = 96%; state = 77.4%); student dropout rate (SVTHS = 0.3%; state = 1.5%); student growth on the ELA MCAS (SVTHS = 68.9%; state = 50%); student growth on the Math MCAS (SVTHS = 59%; state = 50%), which also increased from our 2021 rate of 46%); and our co-op rate participation rate (50.1%), which is the third highest in the state (following 51.8% and 51.5%). We also improved our MassCore completion rate from 55.1% in 2021 to 67.8% in 2022. To improve student performance in our school, we are still working to address our MassCore completion rate which, although improved, is below the state average is 83.8%.

    We are also working to improve in priority areas where although we are performing better than state averages, we still see room for improvement to meet the high standards we set at Shawsheen Tech. This includes, but is not limited to, two aspects of student attendance. The first is the student attendance rate (SVTHS = 93.7%; state = 91.5%), We are outperforming the state in this area, but saw a decline from our 2021 rate of 95.6%. The second is our chronic absenteeism rate (SVTHS = 17.9%; state = 27.7%) which is the percentage of students who miss more than 10 percent of the school year (18 or more days of school), regardless of whether absences were excused or not (the state does not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences). This rate increased from our 2021 rate of 7.9% to 17.9% in 2022. This is consistent with rates for the state which increased from 17% in 2021 to 27.7% in 2022, but it is still a priority area for us to target for improvement since student attendance is critical to the learning, growth, and achievement of students so we can prepare them for adult life in a competitive world.

    Finally, if your child attends a school that receives federal Title I funds, you also have the right to request the following information about the qualifications of your child’s classroom teachers:

    • Whether your child’s teacher is licensed in the grade levels and subject areas they teach,
    • Whether your child’s teacher is teaching under an emergency license or waiver,
    • The college degree and major of your child’s teacher, and
    • Whether your child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.

    If you have questions about our school’s report card, would like to become involved in school improvement activities, or would like to request information about the qualifications of your child’s classroom teacher, please contact Diane Cedorchuk, Principal’s Assistant, at dcedorchuk@shawtech.org. We encourage you to become involved in helping us improve our school. We see parents as critical partners in the success of our students and school, and we are grateful for your continued support. To see our district’s report card or to search for other schools’ report cards, visit https://reportcards.doe.mass.edu/.

    Sincerely,

    Jessica Cook

    Principal

    (she/her/hers)

    jcook@shawtech.org

    978-671-3640

    978-671-3637