The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 41

Boston Sunday Globe City Region B7 NOVEMBER 18, 2001 11.2 building plan questioned Focus on MCAS paying off i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Improving failure rates The Globe rated schools based on improvement in lOth-grade MCAS scores over the past four years. A sampling: Jeremiah E. Burke High School BOSTON Percent failing English MCAS 1998 uiikt a Slye Colliers, in partnership with landowners Guilford Transportation Industries, said the project wont generate an overwhelming amount of traffic It is served by two transit lines: the Green line at Lechmere station, and the Orange Line at the Bunker Hill Community College stop. Retail would be limited to 75,000 square feet so as not to compete with existing East Cambridge businesses, Vickery said. There would be 2.1 million square feet of commercial, office, and research and development space, but 3 million square feet of housing, in keeping with new zoning.

The tallest buildings in the Phyl's furniture warehouse. The station relocation would improve the O'Brien-First Street-. Cambridge Street interchange so commuters stop using local side streets, but residents are worried the new station would become more convenient to North Point than to the neighborhood. "Most people feel the crossing of O'Brien remains a real probed lem," said Douglas Ling, co-chair of the Eastern Cambridge Plan-in ning Study Committee, a citizens group. An expensive proposal to de- press Monsignor O'Brien way and create a pedestrian plaza above has not been formally em-bi; braced.

But Michael jv complex, up to 220 feet, would bump up against rail facilities along the eastern border of the site, in the shadow of the highway. And all of the 20 to 30 structures would be arranged around a linear park that Vickery hopes will someday connect to the Min-uteman bikepath to the northwest, and to Residents in the working-class neighborhood of East Cambridge are still unsure how they fit into the plans. TAUNTON Continued from Page Bl quirement, such as art and history, are getting short shrift. But while it's easy to find teachers and students in Taunton who aren't thrilled with the MCAS graduation requirement, it's difficult to find people who are unhappy with what it has wrought "We're not teaching them, 'Oh, here's how to get around a We're teaching them the topics, and then they're tested on those topics," said math teacher Diane Fairbanks. Extra English and math arent wholly responsible for the gains in Taunton.

Scores spiked between the 2000 and 2001 exams because the latter was the first test that counted toward the graduation requirement, Taunton teachers and students said. And there may be other factors at work. The site of a major silverware manufacturer, Taunton used to be known as "The Silver City." But a flourishing industrial park and the city's central location 40 miles south of Boston and 22 miles north of Providence have attracted high-tech companies, and its population of roughly 56,000 is changing. "Lots of yuppies are moving in, and when you have yuppies moving in, you have to get the schools together," said Robert Gaudet, an education researcher at the University of Massachusetts. "There's a demographic uptick in the district that is creating an incentive to do things correctly." Still, teachers and students at Taunton say double and even triple doses of English and math have played a huge role.

Taunton High employs a "block schedule" under which students take four courses during the first half of the year and another four in the second half. Each school day is divided into four periods, rafter than the traditional seven, so students spend more time in each class. The strategy enables them to concentrate on a few classes at once, while still spending the equivalent of a year in each one. But Taunton gives its students more than a year's worth of math and English in their freshman and sophomore years. In addition to a semester of grade-level English and math in each of the two years, they have to take additional English and math courses geared toward reviewing for the MCAS.

Taunton headmaster Patrick Jackman said there's no such thing as too much English and math. "Will there be Some kids who have to endure something that they might have mastered? Yes, that's going to happen," Jackman said. "But in our opinion, it reinforces skills that have to be in place." Some Taunton students question their school's heavy emphasis on the test. "MCAS stresses out kids more than it helps them," sophomore David Clark said. "When kids finally get the MCAS, they're so nervous they forget everything theyVe learned." His friend David Barer agreed.

They worship it," Barer said of his teachers' attitude about MCAS. "TheyVe got their little signs up and everything." But other students acknowledge albeit grudgingly that MCAS may be doing some good. "They really push it," said Jamie Devlin, a junior who is in honors courses. "But the MCAS as a whole will help you in English and math." Parents seem to be on board too. "For kids who have been a little more advanced, the beginning of that particular class was like, What am I doing Karen Dulaney, whose daughter is in honors courses, said of the MCAS math prep course.

"But they found that it strengthened their base." Taunton teachers insist they dont teach to the test, at least not in a way that compromises the content of the class. "The thrust of our presentation is the material, not the test itself or test preparation," said math coordinator Richard Dube. But the workbooks used in the MCAS prep courses during the school day include some test-taking skills. And after school, there is unadulterated coaching for juniors who have failed the exam and are studying to take it again especially if they came painfully close to passing. English teacher Joseph Saia admitted as much during an after-school session last week.

Paying closer attention to test questions and knowing the vocabulary of standardized tests can help raise scores, he told his students. "I can't make you smarter," Saia said. "All I can do is help you take the test better, so that's what I'm going to do." Bill Dedman of the Globe staff contributed to this article. Scott S. Greenberger can be reached by e-mail at greenberger 2ooiE3EZI 3 Percent failing math MCAS 1998 l.

2001 rare Taunton High School TAUNTON Percent failing English MCAS 1998 2001 Percent failing math MCAS i998 r2SZZZZZ2 2001 EES Wareham Senior High School WAREHAM Percent failing English MCAS 1998 E23 2001 Dio Percent failing math MCAS 1998 EES; a 2001 FEES Southbridge High School SOUTHBRIDGE Percent failing English MCAS 1998 BZ1 2001 EE Percent failing math MCAS 1998 SIS 2001 ES3 a Springfield Central High School SPRINGFIELD Percent failing English MCAS 1998 Ll" 1 "I 2001 Bin Percent failing math MCAS 1998 EE2ZZZZZ3 Frtchburg High School FITCHBURG Percent failing English MCAS 1998 2001 EES Percent failing math MCAS 1998 Mil'1 11 -1 2ooiEE3Z3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 GLOBE STAFF CHART globe.com. Anand Vaishnav can be reached by a new Metropolitan District Commission park being built on the banks of the Charles River. Plans call for multiple entrance points along Monsignor O'Brien Highway so the area is fully accessible, Vickery said. On a recent tour through the site, a grassy plain imbedded with rail lines near where schooners once plied waterways in a thriving glassworks industry, Vickery said the land cries out with potential. This just sets me on fire," he said.

This is the hole in the doughnut, the center where growth should be, instead of out in the suburbs." And, he added, "how many people get the chance to help build a new neighborhood?" The involvement of Spaulding Slye, partners in the development of Fan Pier on the South Boston Waterfront, marks a new stage for North Point The project got off to a rocky start in 1999, when Guilford executives announced a "European-style" village without first consulting with neighbors or even city officials. Spaulding Slye, Vickery said, is determined to work with the neighborhood on all aspects of the development including the critical issue of connections. One key area is the proposed relocation of the Lechmere station to the other side of Monsignor O'Brien High-' way, just north of the Bernie NORTHPOINT Continued from Page Bl solved, it will just be its own separate neighborhood." For fellow resident Shannon Larkin, who fought for a building moratorium in East Cambridge, it comes down to traffic. "You can design a beautiful, liveable neighborhood, but if you cant get there because you're stuck in traffic or it's too dangerous to walk there, it doesnthelp." The wariness about North Point, three times as large as Fan Pier, about as close to downtown and at least as complex, underscores the difficulty in building on what planners call "infill" sites vacant industrial land, railyards, and old manufacturing facilities close to downtown. The re-use of such land makes perfect sense to planners and environmentalists, but not always to nearby residents, who must live with growth's consequences.

In Cambridge, in particular, some residents say the city has already grown enough despite a massive rezoning effort that reduces building heights and favors residential over commercial development For some, the city already has enough people. "Cambridge is already the seventh most densely populated community in the nation," said John Moot, president of the Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods. "Now they want to plunk in a lot of high-rise buildings that will be nothing but a gated, luxury housing development, with none of the flavor of East Cambridge." The tension is not lost on David Dixon, an urban planning consultant hired by residents to help with the rezoning process. "To me, North Point is like Assembly Square in Somerville symbols of whether we can grow the core. But if you live in East Cambridge, the home prices are skyrocketing, there are dramatic increases in traffic, and more development just exacerbates the problems," Dixon said.

The North Point area, he said, "is a real test of our ingenuity." Frustration prompts others to put it more bluntly. Antidevelop-ment activists seek to dilute the needed density at a site that is "a once-in-a-century opportunity for courageous city planning," said Daniel Winny of Lyme Properties LLC, key developers in Kendall Square. "Community-based planning comes down to fear of strangers, traffic, shadows, change." David Vickery, in charge of the North Point project for Spaulding the When you walk and sounds of anything our wun smile on OF Visit the joy and Not the the ones you love. weekend and in a store full of $1,000 gift certificate. Our sales There's a Mulhern, acting gen-w eral manager of the Massachusetts Bay i Transportation Au-iIe thority, said the O'Brien crossing "will tj be a key design ria." jii The supports the Lechmere reloca tion because it fits in with plans to extend.

the Green Line to Ball Square in Medford, near Tufts University, and because it would encourage transit use by people who live and work in the new complex. "When we first saw it we thought it was too good to be true," Mulhern said. "It's the most promising liveable community initiative we've seen." "I think North Point could be the model urban community," where people work and live," said Cambridge Mayor Anthony Gal-luccio. "When it's done I hope people say that if we did North Point-style development over the previous 50 years, we would have had much more of a community feel than in Kendall Square or Alewife, where weVe made some mistakes." For others, including East Cambridge resident Barbara Broussard, the question is not so much whether North Point will be" built but how it will be built conceding a certain inevitability to a changing landscape. "The houses have gentrified.

The older people are dying, and the children aren't keeping the properties, they are selling said Broussard. "It's always been blue-collar but now it's changing. People are realizing how convenient it is. Thafs just the reality." Anthony Flint can be reached by all the sights gifts for every shop win a every gift with season than piace to pur. a CO MrncroaioN TEHEES! TOCOl LLBean and discover excitement of the season.

to mention great gifts. WWWWS' Hgwiiiiiiwuiuii II. in imiuiui iiiii i i I XV.k i bo I ---O r. 1 4. i- through our doors, you'll experience season.

You'll also find the perfect Enjoy live holiday entertainment sample delicious treats while you holiday magic and register to representatives are ready to help with expert advice on in our store. And we stand behind legendary 100 satisfaction guarantee. no better way to start the holiday visit to uuoean. Ana no Dener your face, and theirs. Freeport, Maine start here.

GO ANYWHERE." L.L.Bsaii No fumA-ase necessary Visit It Sore for details and official rules..