Somerville officials outline district goals, new data schedule and expanded tiered instruction plan

Somerville Public School District administrators used an Aug. 26 board retreat to present district goals and a plan to expand data-driven instruction across the district, including a goal to raise student proficiency by 3 percent and an updated schedule for reporting state and local assessment results to the board.

The presentation, led by Superintendent JR with curriculum director Mary Kane and curriculum supervisor Gina, framed the work as an implementation of recommendations from last year’s curriculum audit. JR told the board that “the board should receive reports on academic progress and growth towards goals at least 2 times annually.” The administration proposed a reporting cadence that will include an initial September report on NJGPA and access, NJSLA (state assessment) reports when they are released in October/November, and a January midyear and June end-of-year local-data review.

Why it matters: Board members said they plan to use the self-evaluation and this data schedule to set board goals and oversight priorities. The administration said…