Schools Superintendent Bobbie J. D'Alessandro says the results are "very frustrating."

A centerpiece of her tenure has been renewed focus on literacy in the early grades, but the fourth grade English scores showed no improvement.

D'Alessandro says she is reserving judgment until results come in from other standardized literacy assessments that elementary students took last spring. But the MCAS scores did not move in the right direction, she says.

"I was very surprised. I thought we would see some upward movement because of our intensive work in literacy," she says.

But fourth-grade English is just one part of an overall dreary MCAS outlook. The feeble scores have sparked administrators to question whether a general lethargy toward MCAS in Cambridge is keeping test scores low.

One year ago this month, the Cambridge School Committee voted not to punish teachers who oppose MCAS or students who boycott the test.

D'Alessandro says she still supports that policy. But she puts the negative community-wide attitude toward MCAS high on her list of reasons why scores in Cambridge have not been improving.

"I was wondering, did that kind of an attitude have a difference on kids as they took the test? How did they feel about it--this won't be important to me?" she says.