Submitted by Shawsheen Valley Technical High School
At a recent town managers meeting hosted by Shawsheen Valley Technical High School, a report presented by Superintendent/Director Charles Lyons revealed a student-body that is happy and productive, with plenty of statistics to prove it.
Shawsheen’s graduation rate last year was 98.1 percent, almost 15 percentage points higher than the state’s average and more than four percentage points higher than any school in its district.
Additionally, Shawsheen had the sixth-best daily average attendance, 97 percent, a rate that is 10 percent higher than the state’s average. The figure is the best in Shawsheen’s history and the 10th highest in the state out of 402 districts.
Since the 2005-2006 school year, Shawsheen’s rate has never dropped below 95 percent. “Our students come to school every day and maintain good academic standards,” said Lyons. “They are truly engaged in learning.”
They also, according to the report, stay in school.
Shawsheen’s drop-out rate is 0.1 percent after being 0.2 percent for the previous two years. The state average is 2.9 percent and only one other community in Shawsheen’s district, Bedford, had a dropout rate less than one percent.
Lyons attributes the numbers to a simple fact, Shawsheen’s students are happy when they are in the building.
“We hire exceptional teachers and our students excel,” Lyons said. “We’re engaging students and we’re adapting our teaching methodologies, both our academic classrooms and our vocational-technical classrooms, and recognizing these students’ unique learning styles. We have experts that know how to do that very, very well.”
Shawsheen’s MCAS scores were also impressive last year.
In all, 99 percent of students scored advanced or proficient in English Language Arts, 89 percent in Science and 87 percent in Math. All three figures were well above the state average and happened with Shawsheen having the highest percentage of students with learning disabilities (28 percent).
The school had the state’s second-highest accelerated growth rate (87 percent) in English Language Arts and ranked 33rd overall in Math (69 percent).
As a result, Shawsheen enjoys a waiting list for applications each February as eighth graders from throughout its district continue [to apply.]
The outstanding numbers at Shawsheen have been recognized.
For the 2012 school year, Shawsheen was the only school in the Merrimack Valley and the only vocational school in the state to receive Commendation School Status from Mass. Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Bedford’s representatives to the School Committee for the Shawsheen Valley Technical High School are Deborah Kostas and Glenn McIntyre.
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