Grafton Public Schools leaders told the school committee on Nov. 4 that district students outpaced statewide averages on this year's MCAS assessments, while nevertheless flagging growing chronic absenteeism that officials said threatens continued progress.

"We're almost 20 percentage points higher than the state in terms of meeting or exceeding," Jen, the district's curriculum and staff development lead, said, summarizing the results. She reported roughly 61% of students met or exceeded expectations in science compared with the state's low 40s, about 50% in math versus the state's roughly 43%, and about 54% in language arts.

Jen attributed the gains to several curriculum changes and investments in staff development. She said high school participation in advanced coursework (AP or dual-enrollment) reached 80.4%, with participation for students with disabilities up about 22.4 percentage points and for low-income students up about 15.8 points.

The presentation also emphasized growth metrics: the district saw roughly 52% growth in language arts and a similar growth rate in math, both above typical targets. Jen described new approaches to intervention and progress monitoring, including a data-driven "S3 academy" model that combines student interests, background and short-term instructional goals to target support.

At the same time, the district is watching attendance. "At the high school level, 47.9 percent of our students with disabilities are demonstrating what's called chronic absenteeism," Jen said, defining chronic absenteeism as 18 or more days missed and urging targeted work with families and principals to improve presence.

Committee members asked whether MCAS performance is returning to pre-COVID baselines and how the district is catching up students who miss lengthy stretches of school. Jen said some grades are close to pre-pandemic levels while others are not, and described principal- and teacher-led supports to provide short-term, four-week instructional goals instead of long-term remediation.

The update also covered curriculum implementation phases and professional development partnerships with external providers and local teacher leaders. On AI in instruction, Jen described an ongoing district task force and a local red/green/yellow guidance system aligned with DESE's August guidelines. The task force plans to evaluate vendor platforms and pilot teacher-facing tools by June to support instruction and student use for study guides and makeup work.

The committee praised the gains and pressed for details on interventions for absentee students and on how the district will sustain progress as new resources continue to be implemented. The district said it would share additional data and tools in upcoming principal and committee meetings.