The Reading School Committee (SC) of Reading Public Schools (RPS) is meeting on Thursday October 5, 2023. The meeting is being held at 7pm at the Reading Memorial High School (RMHS) library and will be broadcast by RCTV and will be accessible via zoom. Links to watch are listed below as well as the packet in pdf form.
Note that the packet includes seventy (70) slides relating to the MCAS results presentation, including next steps and various additional data analyses. It will be impossible to convey in a readable article all the aspects of this presentation, so I will touch on major sections of it. The presentation on a request for a possible dog park at Birch Meadow Elementary, by a Reading citizen, is scheduled to take place in agenda before the MCAS presentation, so I will allude to it first, briefly, below.
The agenda also includes acceptance of various donations and earmarks, including $10k for Wood End (to be used towards socio emotional health and physical wellness), $25k for digital keyboards at RMHS, $25k towards RMHS Innovation pathways planning, and $75k towards Innovation Pathways Implementation and Support.
DOG PARK PROPOSAL
(packet pages 35-57)
Reading resident and town meeting member Steve Cool will give a presentation to the Reading SC about possibly finding a dog park location in a wooded area on the other side of the Birch Meadow Elementary playground (see slides 52-54 of packet). To separate the dog park and the playground, his slide 55 proposes, “DOUBLE FENCING, so snouts and little fingers never meet. PLANTINGS, such as arborvitaes, to reduce sound, visibility and other distractions between dogs and kids. SOLID BARRIER, (optional), such as a wooden fence, to further reduce sound and visibility.” He also notes in earlier slide 40 that there are grants available of up to $25k for dog park design and $250k for dog park construction, if the application is submitted by 12/31/2023, the property is town-owned, and is committed for the dog park purpose. Mr. Cool also has given some parts of this presentation to the Symonds Way Exploratory Committee and the recreation committee.
The agenda indicates that the SC may take a vote on this proposal at the meeting on 10/5/2023.
2023 MCAS PRESENTATION
(p. 58-128 of packet)
In over 10 years of monitoring and reading the annual RPS MCAS presentations given to the school committee, this is far and away the longest and most detailed. The memo at slides 58-61 presents the high-level overview of the data, including positive trends and areas for growth/concern. The memo admits that it wants “to highlight a few positive data points….since conversations around MCAS in many communities often focus solely on the areas for growth.” These positives in the memo are significant and include, for example:
- 6 of our 8 schools set school records in school accountability percentile (SAP) (tracked back to first accountability percentiles published in 2012) – as explained in memo, school accountability percentile is based on “achievement (60%), growth (20%), MLL progress towards English proficiency (10%) , and chronic absenteeism rates (10%) over the past two years (heavier weight for the most recent year”. This data is accompanied by the following chart, which really speaks for itself. Coolidge could have been included in the 6 of 8 but for the fact that its very high SAP does not happen to be a school record, because it had even higher SAP in other years and actually set its own record last year. And Parker, which I allude to further later in this article, has a troublesome downward trend in SAP that appears to begin in 2018, even as all the other schools have improving SAP – very puzzling because in 2016 and earlier, Parker had the best SAP in Reading:
- RPS elementary schools scored the 4th highest growth in the state out of 307 total districts (calculated through Student Growth Percentile, or “SGP”).
- Reading was the only district in the entire state to have SGPs of over 61 at both the 4th and 5th grade level.
- 4/5 elementary schools scored school records in ELA SGP.
- RPS 4th and 5th graders outperformed 92% of districts across the state, in terms of advanced/proficiency levels.
- RMHS demonstrated the highest math SGP in school history with an average SGP for all students of 64. The average SGP for students on IEPs, low-income students, and high needs students was all above 60.
- Although there are still major achievement gaps to close and overall proficiency rates to increase at RMHS, proficiency rates in math met or exceeded pre-pandemic levels overall and for students on IEPs, low-income students, and high needs students
Credit for much of this is given to the new ARPA-funded literacy curriculum (ARC Core) and the new math curriculum)
It is interesting to note that the presentation does NOT include the usual school by school grade by grade, subject by subject, data comparisons , as we have seen in past presentations. Instead, there is mostly more focus on “overall” school data and growth percentiles and “overall” RPS data. It is hoped that individual schools will be presenting this level of data to parents; however, the perspective of seeing one’s own elementary school compared to the other ones in Reading, for that grade and cohort, is not always part of the school-based presentations.
By doing that, one cannot see, unless you look directly at the DESE data online, to see specific grade and subject, pockets of high or low achievement, which may be concerning (or encouraging) and which IMHO should require further analysis by RPS personnel – unless you go to the DESE data page (see https://profiles.doe.mass.edu/general/general.aspx?topNavID=1&leftNavId=100&orgcode=02460000&orgtypecode=5 and then in the drop down in top right – select a school of interest and click the arrow, and one can see the data for each school and also compare the same grade and subject with other schools in Reading (or…with any other school or district, if desired)..
EXAMPLES OF POSITIVES IN THE DATA THAT ARE NOT IN THESE SLIDES:
- Wood end gr. 5 had an impressive 80% of its students meet/exceed grade level expectations in English (vs 75% at Barrows, 58% at BM, 78% at JE, 59% at Killam)
- Coolidge gr. 6 had 80% of its students meet/exceed grade level expectations in English (vs 61% at Parker)
- In all gr. 5 subjects, at least 70% or more of JE students met/exceeded grade level expectations (Barrows ranged from 65-75%, BM ranged from 58-60%, Killam ranged from 55-58%, WE ranged from 66-80%)
EXAMPLES OF NEGATIVES IN THE DATA THAT ARE NOT SPECIFICALLY IN THESE SLIDES
- Only 35% of gr. 3 students at Birch Meadow meet/exceed grade level expectations in math (as compared to 53% at Barrows, 53% at Killam, 68% at Joshua Eaton, and 51% at Wood End)
- Parker gr. 8 had only 32% of its students meet or exceed grade level expectations in math, as compared to 59% at Coolidge
- Parker gr. 8 had only 48% meet or exceed grade level expectations in English as compared to 74% at Coolidge.
As mentioned above, school accountability percentile (SAP) and SGP (student growth percentile) is relied on heavily in this presentation, noting that RPS has some schools with some of the highest SAP and SGP in the state, as detailed on p. 58-59 in the presentation. The student growth percentile (SGP) shows how one student’s MCAS score compares with other students with similar prior MCAS scores. A school or district’s s SGP represents the average growth for the school or district. Generally, the state wants to see at least a 50 SGP. Having a good SGP is good, but what also should be considered is that this is also reflecting improvement over a previously poor score. Even with the high SGPs ( which are a good thing), as slides 87-88 explain, we still have significant percentages of students in our district not achieving at grade level, based on MCAS. Slide 88 makes these key points
- Overall, only 63% of students district-wide are meeting or exceeding expectations in ELA
- Overall, only 58% of students district-wide are meeting or exceeding expectations in math
- Despite significant increases in SGP and school percentiles, percent proficiency has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels in most levels/content areas
- Overall achievement and proficiency levels remain in middle/lower end of FinCom comparable communities
Further to FinCom comparable communities, it is refreshing to see, finally, in an MCAS presentation, a comparison of Reading not only to state data (which includes large cities like Boston and Springfield and many demographically and economically different places, but also to “budget peers” (see slides 90, 128) which are economically and demographically more like Reading. Slide 90 in particular shows that, compared to 24 comparable districts/ budget peers, some of our data is near the top (e.g., overall elementary SGP, RMHS math SGP), some appears to be in the middle of the pack (scaled scores for math and ELA overall grade), and some data very near the bottom (middle school ELA and math SGP).
THE PLAN FOR IMPROVING PARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL:
Slide 65 notes that “7 of our 8 schools demonstrate school accountability percentiles above 80 (81, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92)” – all a good thing, but clearly the persistently low school accountability percentile of Parker Middle School (the remaining one of the 8 -currently at an abysmal 62) needs to be addressed. And, indeed, slides 106-112 deal with a specific plan to address the issues at Parker, where the plan appears to include (but is not limited to) the following actions:
- School wide professional development, including for Parker educators who “will participate in teacher-led professional learning communities to enhance their assessment practices and develop universally designed, high-quality lessons aimed at helping all students meet grade-level standards”
- Professional development for the Parker leadership team including working with the Lynch Leadership Academy to build and improve “systems for instructional improvement and teacher coaching, systems for data-driven decision making, and leading effective teams for instructional improvement.
- Support for staff will be provided through observations, feedback and coaching aimed at promoting teacher self-reflection and building capacity for continuous improvement.
- Revamping Parker common planning time “to ensure staff are meeting on a regular basis with grade level teams and content teams and to provide time for administrators to meet with content teams to focus on curriculum, instruction, and assessment once a six-day cycle “
- Improving implementation of existing math high-quality programs that are in place.
- Supports will extended to literacy to align instruction with the depth and breadth of grade level standards
- Shifting Team time practices “to focus on intervention and enrichment/extension.”
ENROLLMENT DATA FOR RPS
(Slides 129-130)
The table and memo on these pages show that the 10/1/2023 enrollment of 3981 students is an increase of 73 students over what was projected, with much of the increase coming at BM (40 new students vs projected enrollment) and Coolidge (34 new students vs projected enrollment. ) The category of student enrollment that reflected the largest increase was the number of students on Individual Education Plans (IEP). Enrollment increased from 665 students last year to 771 (+106 students) this year, and this number includes both in district and out of district students. 17 additional students selected Reading as part of the school choice program. RPS Multi-Lingual Learner population increased from 47 students last year to 72 students this year, with Portuguese being the predominant language spoken, followed by Spanish. Boston Resident student enrollment (METCO) decreased by 2 students to a total of 100.
KILLAM UPDATE
(p. 131-132 of packet)
The Killam update is brief and simply indicates that the Killam School Building Committee (KSBC) has selected an owner’s project manager (OPM) (Colliers), that they are in the middle of the designer selection process (Request for Services published on 9/13/2023 and due 10/11/2023), and feasibility phase will begin and last until summer of 2024, and project funding will be voted on by down in April 2025.
TRANSFER OF LAND
FROM SCHOOLS TO THE TOWN (p. 134-138 of packet)
The land transfer relates to providing land to the town in connection with a PARC grant, which land is directly adjacent to RMHS. More is explained in the packet. Per the memo, “The land in question is currently under the control of the School Committee, but it is our intent to transfer it to the Select Board or Recreation Committee so that it may be deed restricted for recreation to allow this project to proceed.” More on the land involved is explained in these packet pages.
HOW TO WATCH THIS MEETING
The RCTV YouTube live stream link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB-4GNI-fDQ
You can also watch via Xfinity channel 6 (“local 3”) or Verizon channel 32.
In addition, you can join the meeting (or watch) via the Zoom link here:
https://readingpsma.zoom.us/j/83657021146
Meeting ID: 836 5702 1146
One tap mobile +16469313860,,83657021146# US
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