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GARY
HIGGINS/The Patriot Ledger
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| Hull High School is the only
school on the South Shore to have every one of its seniors
pass the MCAS. |
Hull High proves
students don’t have to be
from rich communities
to succeed
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JOE GRIECO |
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"They taught us
ways to relax, breathe and think about problems in different
ways. I went into the test more relaxed." |
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CORI PISHKIN |
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"Everybody looks
at our school like we're horrible. But we must be doing
pretty good if all our seniors and most of our juniors passed." |
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STEVE KOBERSKI |
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"Hull High has stepped
up to the plate, and we have proven that this is a good
and challenging school." |
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By DINA GERDEMAN
The Patriot Ledger
 ull
High School senior Steve Koberski is accustomed to students from
surrounding towns looking down their noses at his school.
But Koberski and fellow seniors from this working class town
are outshining their more upper-class neighbors on the MCAS.
Hull High School is the only school on the South Shore - and
one of only a handful statewide - that has every one of its seniors
passing the exam.
“Other towns around us, like Cohasset and Hingham, put
us down because we’re not as high-class as they are,’’
Koberski said. “But Hull High has stepped up to the plate,
and we have proven that this is a good and challenging school.”
At a time the MCAS is revealing glaring inequities between rich
and poor towns, Hull is proving that sparkling scores are found
not only in the most affluent communities.
State records show that the more well-to-do towns of Norwell,
Hingham and Cohasset have three to six seniors who have not passed
the MCAS, while all of Hull’s 95 seniors have aced the exam.
The stellar performance by this particular group of seniors apparently
is no fluke. All but two students in Hull’s junior class
have mastered the MCAS, which is a better passage rate for the
Class of 2004 than most schools south of Boston, and they still
have more chances to take it.
Hull High has come a long way in a short time. Just two years
ago the high school’s MCAS scores were in bad shape, yet
the results were typical of those found in other communities where
many kids come from broken homes, where parents typically have
not finished college, and where many students work several hours
a week - not for pocket change, but to help their families buy
groceries.
When Russell Goyette was named the new principal of Hull High
last year, 66 seniors - or three out of four students in the Class
of 2003 - had failed the MCAS and were in danger of not graduating.
“It was kind of frightening,’’ Goyette said
about taking the job. “I did take a long, hard swallow.
But I went into education to help kids, and this was a challenge.”
After Goyette took over, the school seemed to buckle down. Teachers
added more rigor to their classes and were required to create
lesson plans that were directly linked to the state’s test-related
curriculum guidelines.
“Some people will say we’re teaching to the test,’’
Goyette said. “But I like to say we’re teaching to
the standards and just trying to make sure the students can pass.”
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In addition, students who failed the MCAS were required to attend
evening tutoring classes. Anyone who did not get remedial help
would not be permitted to participate in any extracurricular activities.
That was enough of a motivator for Joe Grieco, who was not about
to quit the football, baseball and hockey teams.
“I would pretty much be giving up my life,’’
the senior said. “As much as I didn’t want to be there,
I also realized that if that’s what it took to pass, that’s
what I would have to do.”
Starting in September, the school also began requiring students
who failed the test to attend in-school tutoring classes once
a day in place of electives like art and music.
School officials attribute much of the students’ success
to a retreat at the Craigville Resource Center in Barnstable during
the four days right before seniors took the MCAS in May. The school
paid for the $20,000 retreat with a state grant. During the retreat,
students studied and played games. And they got plenty of pep
talks about staying calm and confident during the test.
“Sometimes I think that in places like Cohasset or Hingham,
the kids already know they are the richest, smartest and prettiest,’’
Goyette said. “Our kids don’t have that sense of themselves,
so we work at telling them they’re just as good as anyone
else.”
Students said the retreat helped clear their minds before the
exam.
“They taught us ways to relax, breathe and think about
problems in different ways,’’ said Grieco, who had
failed the MCAS twice before passing the May exam. “I went
into the test more relaxed.”
Results of that May test, which were released in September, showed
that Hull’s senior class made the largest score jump in
the state, 28 percentage points. At that time, only one senior
at the school still had not passed.
Cori Pishkin thought she was in trouble when she was called down
to the principal’s office last September. But after she
found out she passed the MCAS, Pishkin broke down and cried.
A high school diploma is crucial to Pishkin, who is determined
to be the first person in her family to graduate from college.
Some day she has dreams of opening her own business - maybe a
hair salon.
“It’s a huge deal for me to be successful,’’
said Pishkin, who has been accepted to Franklin Pierce College
in New Hampshire. “Everybody looks at our school like we’re
horrible. But we must be doing pretty good if all our seniors
and most of our juniors passed.”
The Class of 2003 is the first being required to pass the 10th-grade
MCAS to receive high school diplomas. About 10 percent of seniors
statewide have not passed.
Hull officials, jubilant that they do not have to deny any senior
a diploma because of the test, are rewarding students with build-your-own
sundaes on Tuesday. And they will remind them again that they
can achieve anything.
“These kids are going on to college. I love this place,’’
said math teacher Mike DiMarino, who has a hand-painted sign in
his classroom that reads, “Hull Kids Are Better.”
“The days of looking down on Hull are over.”
Dina Gerdeman may be reached at dgerdeman@ledger.com.
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