Lawrence Family Development Charter School (LFDCS) is sharing its outstanding results from the Spring 2014 MCAS tests. Across public schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, MCAS academic testing measures student achievement in English Language Arts, Math and Science. Based on the Spring results for the third year in a row, LFDCS ranks as a Level 1 School. Only 19% of Districts and 26% of public schools across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts earned Level 1 status this year.
As specific highlights, at every grade level LFDCS students outperformed the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ students in English Language Arts (ELA). In seventh grade, 90% of LFDCS students scored Proficient or Advanced on the ELA MCAS test.
In math, achievement was also very strong at LFDCS. The largest gap between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and LFDCS was in third grade math. Across the Commonwealth, 68% of third grade students scored Proficient or Higher and at LFDCS ninety-three percent of third grade students scored Proficient or Higher on the math MCAS test. Of that 93%, 58% of third graders scored Advanced in math. Superintendent Ralph Carrero was delighted to learn that twelve third grade students earned perfect scores in the math MCAS test. These scores were of great pride to the third grade teaching team, as well as their teaching colleagues in earlier grades.
According to Charter School Principal, Dr. Susan Earabino, the success of the students earning tremendous scores could not have been achieved without talented and dedicated teachers. Dr. Earabino eagerly shared information about the factors which contribute to LFDCS’ student success: teacher planning, mentoring and dedication. “We look for rigor throughout the grades, individualize our instruction, and also use looping which allows teachers to manage small classes in a highly personalized way.” Complementing school year efforts are summer programs, enrichment programs, onsite school gardens to increase awareness of food choices and nutrition, as well as interesting STEM activities which encourage critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Lawrence Family Development Charter School is closing the achievement gap for Hispanic students, 99% of whom are Hispanic. The school is outperforming Hispanic students across the state. For example, in seventh and eighth grade math, the percent of students who scored Proficient or Higher at LFDCS is more than double that of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Hispanic students. As part of this announcement about academic excellence, Lawrence Family Development Charter School also wishes to highlight its students for obtaining perfect test scores for the Spring 2014 tests. These students and their grade levels are: 3rd Grade Perfect MCAS Scores in math: Amy Baez, Natalie Garcia, Gary Gil, Alfred Grullon Pepin, Angelica Hiraldo, Davious Jordan, Luiz Lopez Echeverria, Jadean Moronta, Diego Ortega Castillo, Chanelle Perez, Miguelangel Perez, and Ashley Trigueros. Of special note is that Angelica Hiraldo earned a perfect score in English Language Arts as well as in math on the MCAS tests! Also earning perfect scores in math at the grade 5 level was Isatys Perez and at the seventh grade was Alexa Pagan.
Founded in 1995, the Lawrence Family Development and Education Fund, Inc.’s Lawrence Family Development Charter School (LFDCS) is one of the first K-8 Commonwealth public charter schools. As a “Level 1” public school for MCAS performance in 2012 and 2013, the work of the Lawrence Family Development Charter School is known for its best practices as a Massachusetts urban school. The school uses research-based practices for academic instruction and intervention, and supplements this instruction with after school and summer school programs.
