New Tests Scores Show Encouraging Improvement For Nantucket Public Schools

The Nantucket Public Schools are ahead of the national median for student achievement in math at almost every grade level and are roughly in line with the median for reading at most grade levels, according to results from last spring’s Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests.

MAP tests are administered several times a year as a district-level educational monitoring tool. Essentially, every grade level at the elementary, intermediate, and middle schools is now above the median for math, in many cases improving over already bright results from last year. This continues a trend of positive growth for the district. In some cases, grades scored at nearly the 80th percentile.

“This has taken four years for us to get here,” Amanda Bardsley, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, said.

Nantucket has long lagged behind the nation for reading scores. Explanations include a slow recovery from COVID-19 and the district’s large population of students who do not speak English as their first language.

“We have seen significant growth and achievement over the four years with the change in the math program,” Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett said. “So I ask you and the public…to be patient and stay the course with our literacy model.”

But despite these cautions, Nantucket’s data is actually looking better this year than it has recently: all grades except third were near or above the 50th percentile in achievement, meaning the school is roughly average or slightly above average for reading achievement.

Bardsley suggested that the improved results on the MAP tests will soon be borne out by the higher-profile MCAS testing data, which is not yet available for the most recent academic year.

“We do have preliminary data that is embargoed, and it is looking good,” she said.