FOXBORO - Acknowledging the complexity of MCAS scores and interpretations, Assistant Superintendent Debra Spinelli has summarized some observations in plain English.

Spinelli and other educators are seeking to help school committee members to understand the needs and achievements of Foxboro students.

Among many of the data statements contained in Spinelli's report:

Foxboro's 2009 MCAS performance in English language arts is consistently above state scores on all seven subject tests.

Tenth-graders at the high school earned the strongest MCAS scores in school history. Grade 3-8 English language arts performance improves as students progress through the grades and curriculum.

Students in remediation groups at the middle school showed significant improvement on open response questions.

In science and technology engineering, Foxboro students' 2009 performance was strong. Percentages of students in the top two performance categories is well above the state average.

Grade 5 science scores decrease by 10 percent in 2009.

Spinelli included data to support those and other conclusions.

"We're not happy being a little above the state. We want to be well above," Spinelli said.