Superintendent: district has early data on instruction; reading and equity gaps remain
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Summary
Dr. Pellegrino told the Gardner School Committee that district data show 64.27% fidelity for common planning time and 67% of students reading at grade level on DIBELS; gaps for students with disabilities and English learners persist. Kindergarten registration is ahead of past years with 98 completed applications.
Dr. Pellegrino, superintendent of Gardner Public Schools, told the School Committee on March 10 that new, midyear data are giving district leaders a clearer picture of instruction and student learning and will shape targeted supports.
"It's not pretty data, though," Dr. Pellegrino said, summarizing results that show room for improvement in several measures the district is tracking. The district reported an observed fidelity rate of 64.27% for common planning time and said 67% of students are reading at grade level on the DIBELS universal screener; the superintendent said the district’s goal is to raise that to 75% by the end of the school year.
The presentation focused on three district goals: strengthening common planning time, improving Tier 1 core instructional practices, and reducing academic equity gaps for students who are multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Dr. Pellegrino said Gardner High School showed notable gains on some measures, the middle school made progress on others, and that overall the new midyear screening enables the district to adjust instruction in “real time.”
School Committee members pressed for clarity about where gains and gaps are largest. The superintendent gave preliminary numbers showing the high school reduced a gap for students with disabilities from a 48-point difference to a 45-point difference on the district’s aggregate metric; Gardner Elementary and Gardner Middle both showed smaller improvements. For English learners, the superintendent said Gardner Middle School moved from the midyear category of not meeting expectations to a smaller share not meeting expectations — a change the presentation summarized as a five-point gap improvement.
Student advisory representative Miss Morris reported recent student-led activities and family-facing events, including a FAFSA help night and assemblies on teen dating violence, which the superintendent said align with the instructional and social-emotional priorities in the plan.
On enrollment, Dr. Pellegrino said kindergarten registration, which opened March 1, currently shows 98 completed registrations, including 19 new registrations since opening. The district also expects 79 current preschool students to enter kindergarten next year and reported that it currently staffs nine kindergarten classrooms. The superintendent referenced guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) recommending average class sizes under 25 for kindergarten when discussing planning and classroom assignments.
The superintendent and committee members emphasized that the district will continue using the new screening and observation data to target professional development and in-school supports, and that the information is intended to shape common planning time and building-level interventions going forward.