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Excerpt from Sudbury Public Schools' FAQs:

Math and English/Language Arts tests are administered to all students in grades 3 – 8; Science/ Technology exams are given in grades 5 and 8.  Social Studies testing is conducted in grades 5 and 7.  Individual student results are categorized in one of four categories: Above Proficient (advanced), Proficient, Needs improvement, or Warning.  A common perspective of analysis at the state and regional levels is to examine the percentage of students who achieved either Proficient or Above Proficient.  The percentage of Sudbury students (regular and special education combined) who were Proficient or Above Proficient was from 22 to 35 percent higher than statewide averages.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education does not rank districts based upon MCAS results.  Boston.com, however, ranks school districts and charter schools on each MCAS exam given in the spring of 2007 using the percentage of students who scored either “Above Proficient” or “Proficient” in each tested area.  There are about 300 districts and charter schools being compared in this respect.  The results for the Sudbury Public Schools are as follows:

SPS ranked minimally in the top 10% in every testing area and in the top 1 – 3% in several of the assessments. In several of the MCAS assessments, individual grades in Sudbury schools had competency rates in the top three among approximately 1,000 elementary schools statewide.

Excerpt from Sudbury Public Schools' FAQs:

While Loring is clearly a strong and successful school in relation to others in the state, the School Committee and the Administration are well aware of concerns related to the apparent achievement gap in MCAS scores that exists between Loring and the other elementary schools in the District. Similarly, the new Loring administration is aware of this issue and the expectation that steps be taken to bring Loring into line with the other District Schools. Mr. Dees, Loring’s new Principal, has recently addressed such issues at a number of meetings and has reported to the School Committee on steps that are designed to address these concerns.

Excerpt from Sudbury Public Schools' FAQs:

These state and federal mandates are imposed by law and the local schools districts are required to comply with them. Failure to comply with them could result in various sanctions not the least of which would be the potential loss of state and federal funding. MCAS testing and the AYP system do dictate many aspects of the educational system. Nonetheless, MCAS also provides the school district with information about performance that may be useful in improving curriculum or instruction or in targeting resources to students who need additional assistance. The schools may identify needs of certain sub-groups of students that were not evident without the separate reporting.