School Committee Reviews Standardized Test Results-September 18, 1975

Urging Greater Emphasis on Basic Math and Language Skills

Meeting to review the results of standardized tests administered to elementary, junior high, and high school students last fall, the Norwood School Committee came away with a clear consensus: greater instructional focus must be placed on foundational language and math skills.

While administrators cautioned that standardized tests do not perfectly capture student performance or align completely with local curriculum changes, the data highlighted key areas for academic improvement across all grade levels.

Elementary Level: Math Mechanics and Spelling Highlights

At the elementary level—where third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders were evaluated—Supt. Phillip O. Coakley noted that aptitude and achievement scores closely tracked one another, though officials expressed dissatisfaction with computation outcomes.

• Math Focus: Assistant Supt. Umberto Napoleone attributed the need for better computation skills to modern math curricula prioritizing conceptual understanding over mechanical arithmetic. Pupil Personnel Services Director Roderick Smith added that modern math approaches often lack reinforcement at home because parents feel unfamiliar with the methods. A committee is already actively reviewing the math curriculum.
• Spelling Strengths: System-wide, spelling scores for grades three through six significantly exceeded national norms. While third-grade scores were lower due to unfamiliarity with standardized testing and curriculum pacing, the Prescott School posted the strongest overall elementary results, and the Cleveland School maintained consistently high reading scores.

Junior High School: Reading Drops and Staffing Impacts

Junior High School North Principal James R. Savage reported that reading scores dropped to an all-time low, linking the decline directly to staffing reductions. “This is the price we are paying since being forced to drop one reading teacher from our staff,” Savage said, expressing frustration with past committee budget cuts.

Savage also cited broader societal factors, remarking, “Twenty-five years of television is taking its toll,” and noting that students read less outside of school—even newspapers and magazines. To combat declining language skills, Savage outlined a new cross-disciplinary initiative requiring English and social studies departments to schedule weekly student writing assignments. Additionally, a new math resource room is being launched to reinforce basic skills, particularly for lower-level groups.

High School Level: Curriculum Shifts Back to Basics

At the high school level, Principal Dr. John F. Monbouquette echoed concerns regarding language skills, noting that students are reading less. He also suggested that modern foreign language teaching methods—which now emphasize conversational speaking over structural grammar—may have reduced the incidental reinforcement of English grammar previously tied to French and Spanish instruction.

On the School and College Ability Tests (SCAT) for sophomores, Norwood verbal scores nearly matched national norms, while math scores trailed by 3.8 points. SAT means for college-bound Norwood students showed boys at 405 verbal / 479 math (compared to national means of 447 and 501) and girls at 423 verbal / 465 math (compared to 442 and 459). However, Dr. Monbouquette emphasized that lower aptitude scores meant high achievement scores could not be realistically expected.

In response to the findings, Assistant Supt. James R. Donovan floated a potential scale-back of elective course offerings to require more core basics. “Gradually we are swinging back to a more traditional curriculum,” Dr. Monbouquette concluded, while Supt. Coakley observed that colleges are placing less emphasis on standardized testing overall.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger