Troop School reports lower absenteeism and gains in literacy, math after Commissioner's Network support

School leaders at Augusta Lewis Troop School told the New Haven Board of Education that the school’s first year in the Connecticut State Department of Education’s Commissioner's Network produced measurable improvements in attendance, literacy and math.

“Through a collective schoolwide effort, our chronic absenteeism rate went down to or is currently at 33.7 percent,” Principal Eugene Foreman said, noting the rate had been 48.47 percent at the same point the previous year.

A presentation from Sophie Teitelbaum of the survey firm Custom Insight described districtwide climate-survey results showing gains across students, families and staff after increased outreach and programming. “In every single category, we see significant gains since 2024,” Teitelbaum said, and she highlighted improvements in the district’s teacher-and-staff engagement percentile and higher family response rates to the survey.

Troop’s instructional leaders described school-level changes that staff credited for the results: two morning meetings per week to align grade-level and special-education teams, expanded coaching cycles, restorative-practices training, additional tutoring (including a Boundless/Orton-Gillingham–trained tutor) and an emphasis on writing across the curriculum.

Keisha Hogan, Troop’s math coach, said the school saw a 10-point increase in students who were on grade level and a 7-point decrease in students two or more grade levels below; 47 percent of students met their typical-growth goal on MAP math assessments, and 71 percent of those students reached a stretch growth goal (about 1.5 years of growth). Hogan called out multilingual learners and students with disabilities: “57% of [multilingual learners] met their typical growth goal and 42% of our special education students.”

Amanda Alonzo, Troop’s literacy coach, described a shift in the school’s tiered literacy supports. At the start of the year 71 percent of K–3 students were identified as needing tier-3 intervention; by the end of the year more students had moved into tier-1 limited-support status, she said, attributing gains to coaching time, assessments and in-class coaching pushes.

The superintendent and board members praised Troop staff for using targeted resources to produce early gains while noting the work must continue. “Numbers move in the right direction when the resources provide the people and the extra support,” Negron said.

Nut graf: Troop’s first year in the Commissioner's Network shows early positive outcomes in attendance and academic growth after targeted staffing, coaching and tutoring interventions; district survey data presented by a third-party vendor also reported improvements across multiple climate and engagement measures.

Ending: Troop’s leaders said they will continue the approach next year and refine instructional supports; the board asked that the Troop materials and the climate-survey presentation be posted with meeting materials for public review.