Hancock Middle School enrollment, phonics and coaching cited in ATSI update; district plans further benchmarks in January

Dr. Melissa Sosa told the board that Hancock Middle School’s ATSI (Additional Targeted Support and Improvement) work is producing measurable improvements in several areas, though math remains a priority for continued intervention.

Sosa reported that enrollment rose from 872 last year to 910 this year and that homeschool withdrawals fell from 32 to 11. "Our students are growing, our teachers are collaborating, and our families are staying," she said. The school remained a solid B this school year and showed growth in four of seven measured areas: ELA efficiency, ELA growth, ELA LPS growth, and science.

Reading and math interventions - Reading: The school began a phonics-for-reading program last year that, according to Sosa, produced 58% growth among 37 identified fifth graders who entered sixth grade without mastery of the five components of reading. The school is using ATSI and federal funds to partner with Kids First consultants to train teacher leaders to run weekly, data‑driven PLCs. - Math: The district and school are emphasizing coaching and small-group instruction to improve math outcomes. Sosa said that math coaches and Kids First support will continue as funds are released and that the district uses an individual learning plan approach for lower-performing students.

Supports and staffing Sosa described hiring two part‑time certified retired teachers to provide direct instruction and interventions in ELA and math across three middle‑school grades, and setting up a principal advisory council and building leadership team to gather staff and student voice.

Follow-up Board members asked about benchmark timing; administrators said December testing will yield results that can be reported in January. One board member requested the discipline referrals report referenced in the packet; staff noted some October reporting is incomplete pending payroll data.

Speakers (attributions allowed in this article): [{"name":"Dr. Melissa Sosa","role_title":"ATSI lead","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"Hancock County School District","first_reference":{"timecode":"00:33:12","transcript_line_range":[1992,2029]}},{"name":"Mister Wagner","role_title":"school administrator","affiliation_type":"government","affiliation_name":"Hancock County School District","first_reference":{"timecode":"00:33:12","transcript_line_range":[1992,2029]}}]

Provenance (selected transcript excerpts) "Our enrollment has increased from 872 last year to 910 this year…" — Dr. Melissa Sosa, transcript tc_start 00:33:12 "We did remain a solid b this school year, showing growth in 4 of the 7 measured areas…" — Dr. Melissa Sosa, transcript tc_start 00:34:10

Topics and scoring: ["ATSI","reading","math_coaching"] justification: ATSI update and intervention plans for Hancock Middle School; topic_relevance:0.95 depth_score:0.85 opinionatedness:0.05 controversy:0.10 civic_salience:0.8 impactfulness:0.6 geo_relevance:1.00