Eighth-grader Marcus Furtado presents 'Make the Grade' academic website to Coventry School Committee

Marcus Furtado, an eighth grader at Coventry Middle School, presented Make the Grade, a student-created academic website, to the Coventry School Committee during its meeting.

Make the Grade is a Google Site Marcus said he built over winter break to provide study guides, step-by-step explanations and practice problems for subjects including algebra, English language arts, discovery science, social studies and world languages. "Today, I'll be presenting my website, Make the Grade, which is an academic website specifically made for eighth grade for all students no matter what class you're in," Marcus said. He told the committee the site is free for students and that content is created by him and a team of student editors.

Superintendent Cowart introduced Marcus and said the district had invited him after seeing a classroom presentation. Principal Lucien and teacher Jennifer Kilduff joined Marcus at the committee meeting. Kilduff described the work as student-driven and praised the group: "These boys and girls have done this all on their own, all on their own time, and they are brilliant and amazing," she said.

Students on the presentation team explained their roles. Ethan Riley said he manages the Spanish tab and described the peer-to-peer support value: "...that friend to friend, peer to peer, that can be very valuable to a student's learning and giving a fair education," he said. Tommy Moore described his role as checking and adding materials to the site. Marcus said the team beta-tested the site with about 10 students before wider rollout and that one student reported moving from a C-minus to an A-plus after using resources from the site.

Committee members and staff responded with praise and asked about continuity and expansion. Member Cody Rydell told Marcus and his teammates, "This is incredible... you should be proud of yourself." Members asked whether Marcus planned to maintain a similar site for future grades; Marcus said he would keep the current site available for eighth graders and start a new site when he reaches ninth grade.

Committee members discussed succession and expansion so the site could persist after current students move on; several members suggested mentoring younger students to continue the project. The committee did not take formal action related to the site at the meeting.

Marcus said the site is built using the Coventry Schools Google account; district staff noted this means the site is within the district's online security protections. Marcus also mentioned merchandise and outreach efforts; he said outreach to a local company was "in progress" but not confirmed.

The committee thanked Marcus and his team for the presentation and invited them to remain for the remainder of the meeting.