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Andover aims to add an elementary ELA coach by repurposing a vacated math role; administrators seek sustained coaching for curriculum rollout
Summary
Teaching-and-learning leaders asked the School Committee to repurpose a recently vacated math coaching position to create a fifth elementary ELA coach at each building. The request aims to mirror prior math coaching support used for Eureka Math Squared and to sustain literacy implementation pending a district literacy audit.
Jason DeCarlo, presenting for the district’s teaching and learning team, described a multiyear coaching model the administration says helped with math curriculum implementation and that the team now wants to mirror in literacy.
“We are currently in a literacy audit process,” DeCarlo told the School Committee, and the administration anticipates recommendations on curriculum materials, instructional resources and professional development. To support those recommendations, DeCarlo asked the committee to approve repurposing one existing coaching position — a math coach who resigned to take a position at DESE — into an additional elementary ELA coach. The change would increase elementary ELA coaching to five coaches districtwide while leaving math coaching at four.
DeCarlo and other presenters said the district’s coaching initiative began in 2022–23 with a mix of math and ELA coaches that supported the rollout of Eureka Math. The program expanded in subsequent years to create more equitable, school‑wide instructional support.
School Committee members asked how coaches are split across buildings; DeCarlo explained current pairings (for example, West and Shawsheen share coaching resources) and said the approach will adjust as the preschool/elementary site configuration evolves.
Committee members also pressed on staffing impacts. DeCarlo and district leaders stressed the request would not add FTEs and would instead repurpose a vacated position. They said the district’s goal is multi‑year successful curriculum implementation and that coaching typically takes three to six years to realize full effects on instruction and assessment practices.
Questions from the committee included timing for further literacy recommendations; staff told the committee they expect more information in subsequent workshops and a fuller set of recommendations at the next committee presentation.
No formal vote on the coach repurposing was recorded in the transcript; the administration said it will bring follow‑up material and timeline details at an upcoming workshop.
