NEW BEDFORD — Students at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School are exceeding or meeting key education targets for English Language Arts, Mathematics and Science, and outperforming 61 percent of all high schools in the Commonwealth, according to the annual Massachusetts Department of Education Schools Accountability Report issued today.

Additionally, the Department of Education found GNBVT made significant strides in increasing the academic progress of students who are designated in the lowest 25 percent of academic performance with those students exceeding targets for all three key academic areas.

Each year, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education establishes and measures each schools performance against those goals and against schools across the state. Among the 2018 highlights for GNBVT: In English Language Arts, student overall performance had a CPI (Composite Performance Index) score of 99.1, exceeding targets established by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. In Mathematics, student overall performance as measured by CPI was 94.8 and in Science student overall performance was 91.3, meeting both targets established by the Department of Education. Equally important, the results for student growth in both ELA and Math improved significantly from previous years.

In each category, GNBVT students exceeded the state average. Additionally, 79 percent of students completed advanced academic course work, exceeding the target goal. The percentage of students scoring in the advanced category in all three MCAS assessments improved compared to 2017, while the number of students identified as warning/failing decreased significantly in all areas.

Students identified as the lowest 25 percent of academic performers, by the Department of Education, excelled in all three categories in 2018. This new subgroup was established in 2018 for all schools by the Department of Education. These students had a CPI of 97 in ELA, up six points from 2017; a CPI of 80.2 in Math, up seven points from 2017 and a CPI of 73.1 in Science up 6.2 points from 2017.

In 2017, GNBVT took several steps to redesign instructional delivery.

“Our faculty deserves a significant amount of credit for the preparation that goes into designing lessons that resonate with our students, and for the passion they’ve shown in embracing these changes to help our students persevere in their high school experience. We are especially proud of the significant strides made by those students who have historically struggled academically” said James L. O’Brien, Superintendent/Director of Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School.

--GNBVT release

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