The Wareham School Committee on Nov. 20 approved presentations from school leaders summarizing last year’s school-improvement work and the proposed goals for 2025–26.

"This plan has been a collaborative effort," said Sarah Russo, principal of Wareham Middle School, introducing her team’s review of ELA, math and special-education work. Russo described progress on writing instruction, use of NWEA and IXL data, and the middle school’s shift toward performance-based science tasks required by the state DESE MCAS changes.

Middle-school presenters reported mixed but measurable results: grade-level gains in writing with two grades meeting the stated growth benchmarks and one grade still in progress; math constructive-response growth included a 19% increase in one cohort and a 6% increase in another, the presenters said. Staff credited coordinated scoring work, renewed rubrics and targeted interventions such as the Rust graphic organizer and a redesigned "Viking" intervention block.

At Wareham High School, Principal Scott Palladino outlined curriculum mapping and new elective courses — American Sign Language, Unified PE, EMT and an officiating course among them — and cited the district’s "pass" program, an offsite therapeutic-and-academic placement that the presenter said served 21 students and had a reported recidivism rate of less than 5 percent. Palladino also described plans for using an on-site coop (alternative program) as capacity, staffing and budget allow.

Elementary leaders said they would continue literacy interventions (writing portfolios and targeted "boost" groups), expand math fluency work with ST Math and Bridges curriculum benchmarks, and pursue a 95% attendance goal using a tiered communications system.

Committee members pressed staff for clarity on measurement and reporting — asking for baseline and outcome numbers for the 10% growth targets, more explicit MCAS/NWEA comparisons, and clearer survey data for school climate — and staff agreed to share more detailed reports with the committee.

The committee voted to approve the strategic plan presentations as presented, with the vote recorded in the meeting transcript as 5–0. Leaders said the material will inform the district’s next strategic plan drafting and that administrators will return with any requested follow-up data.