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Haverhill presents gains for students with disabilities and outlines multilingual learner supports
Summary
School leaders told the School Committee that graduation rates for students with disabilities and for English learners have risen in recent years and outlined districtwide initiatives—MTSS ambassadors, data walls, new IEP training, and targeted interventions—to address persistent achievement gaps.
At a School Committee meeting, Haverhill Public Schools officials reported rising graduation rates for students with disabilities and described districtwide programs aimed at improving outcomes for students with disabilities and multilingual learners.
Deba Ibanez, executive director of student support services for Haverhill Public Schools, said the four‑year graduation rate for students with disabilities rose from 52.9% in 2020 to 66.3% in 2023, an increase she described as “growth and improvement.” The district also reported an increase in graduation for English learners, from 66.7% in 2019 to 84.6% in 2023, figures officials attributed to expanded programming and changes to assessment practice.
Officials said the district pursued a strategy of moving some students from alternate assessments to regular MCAS to align them with grade‑level expectations. “We took dozens and dozens of kids off of alts and put them onto the regular MCAS,” Ibanez said. School leaders said…
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