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Holliston administrators report midyear gains in literacy and math, flag attendance concerns
Summary
District administrators presented midyear updates showing improved literacy and math benchmarks in several buildings, expanded data tools and interventions, and rising concern about chronic absenteeism in specific student groups.
Holliston administrators gave a midyear update at the Feb. 27 School Committee meeting summarizing districtwide work on communication, social-emotional supports, teaching and learning, and talent and resources.
Presenters said the district has expanded data tools and parent communications (including S'more newsletters that showed 5,366 hits for a Feb. 13 update and 3,477 for a curriculum note) and has increased use of its data dashboard for monitoring interventions. Administrators reported improved benchmark results in early literacy and numeracy at the elementary level and notable midyear growth in grades at Robert Adams Middle School. For example, Rams (the middle school) showed an increase from roughly 54% of students on or above grade level in September to about 62% in January on their IXL ELA benchmark; administrators said similar midyear gains were reflected by other measures such as DIBELS and iReady.
The district is intensifying screening and progress monitoring: staff told the committee they now screen three times a year and monitor at-risk students biweekly or weekly, with some students receiving six-week intervention cycles. Administrators singled out number sense and phonics as strategic, grade-specific targets and said more students are now assigned to interventions earlier in the year than in the previous year.
At the same time, officials highlighted attendance as a leading concern. Presenters said chronic absenteeism rose in mid-January for some populations and in some buildings; a district snapshot shared at the meeting listed a 95.5% overall attendance rate and a 9.3% chronic-absence rate at Robert Adams Middle School. Administrators said they have increased family outreach, started weekly and monthly attendance reporting to families, and convened a chronic-attendance leadership team to examine subgroup trends.
Principals and central-office staff described several concrete supports: expanded professional development, targeted PD for paraprofessionals, partnerships with the Middlesex DA on training for counselors, and the rollout of Asset Essentials for facilities requests. The district also reported more special-education evaluations so far this year than in the prior year and said that growth largely reflects earlier screening and more intensive monitoring rather than a large rise in students qualifying for IEPs.
Administrators said they will continue to refine intervention capacity (including plans for math tutors and math labs in some grades) and will report further on the effects of curriculum and program changes at future meetings.
