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Midyear MTSS data shows broad reading and math gains, Hingham officials say
Summary
District officials presented midyear MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) data showing majority of elementary students at or above benchmark in early grades and improved progress toward annual growth across grades; officials said the data will help target instruction and monitor the effect of staffing changes.
Hingham Public Schools administrators told the school committee on Feb. 24 that midyear MTSS data show sizable gains in reading and math across the district and provide timely evidence to target interventions and monitor program changes.
Mary Andrews, the district’s ELA director, and Dave Jewett, the math director, presented assessment results and progress monitoring that administrators said demonstrate that many students are meeting or exceeding midyear benchmarks. Andrews said the K–2 reading results from Acadience show "more than 80 percent of our kindergartners placing at or above benchmark" at midyear, and that first- and second-grade cohorts also show strong performance.
For grades 3–5, the district reported results from i‑Ready that administrators said indicate cohorts have exceeded expected midyear progress toward annual growth. Andrews noted persistent domain-specific challenges — comprehension of informational text in grades 3 and 4 and vocabulary in grade 5 — and said teachers and specialists will use subtest data to direct instruction.
On math, Jewett and presenters reported that all grades except kindergarten exceeded expectations for typical annual growth at midyear and that some special‑education cohorts are making higher rates of progress than their general‑education peers. The presentation showed a district trend toward increasing percentages of students on or above grade level and declining percentages of students two or more grade levels below.
Committee members discussed the data’s value as a longitudinal benchmark for evaluating program changes, including the potential impact of a planned reduction in interventionist positions. Andrews said schools track progress-monitoring data more frequently than the district-level snapshots and that longitudinal data across post‑COVID years will allow the district to detect effects of staffing or program adjustments.
Committee members asked about cohort-specific trends, timing of assessments and how quickly schools can detect deteriorations; presenters said some cohort and classroom‑level monitoring already informs staff reallocations and school teams can spot needs early in the year. Several committee members praised the work and said the data are timely for budget deliberations.
