Bridgewater Elementary reports higher attendance and math gains, sets 80% proficiency goal

Bridgewater Elementary School posted stronger attendance and improved math results in 2024–25 and will aim for 80% of students meeting grade-level benchmarks in 2025–26, Interim Principal Hope Langston told the Northfield Public School Board on Oct. 14.

"We had an average consistent attendance rate for the 24–25 school year of 95%," Langston said, and she reported the percentage of chronically absent students fell from 12% in 2023–24 to 7.3% in 2024–25.

The school highlighted third- and fourth-grade proficiency gains in math during the district’s first year of the new curriculum adoption. Langston said third- and fourth-grade cohorts ranked above most statewide elementary schools on comparable measures, and noted the school’s free- and reduced-price (FRP) student proficiency for third grade improved into the mid-70s compared with peer schools.

Why it matters: Bridgewater’s attendance and targeted academic gains are presented by the district as foundations for broader school improvement: regular attendance supports social-emotional well-being and academic progress, and sustained gains among FRP students indicate progress on equity-focused measures Langston referenced.

Details and supporting practices

Langston credited the school’s MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support) team, building leadership, and family engagement navigator Carrie Duba for early intervention practices that tracked and responded to attendance patterns. She said Bridgewater uses a data-forward meeting format for timely teacher–family intervention and plans to expand use of the EduCLIMBER data system to make interventions and student histories more visible to teachers.

Langston described three school goals for 2025–26: raise the share of students meeting grade-level benchmarks to 80% in each subject area; increase employee engagement survey participation and scores by creating clearer structures for staff input; and raise parent/caregiver survey participation and use existing practices (for example, Boosterthon fundraising communications) to encourage more responses.

She said teachers are already seeing immediate instructional benefits from EduCLIMBER’s intervention flags and integrated student profiles. "You can flag a student as receiving an intervention, and that flag stays with that student," Langston said, adding that teachers report the platform reduces time spent manually compiling intervention spreadsheets.

Board questions and context

Board members asked for clarification that FRP comparisons were FRP-to-FRP statewide; Langston confirmed the comparison used same-demographic groups and noted the district filters results to schools with sufficient cell sizes before benchmarking. Vice Chair Corey Butler asked whether test opt-outs affect proficiency denominators; Langston said opt-outs were not being removed from the accountability denominator in the most recent reporting year and that Northfield’s elementary participation rates remain above 95%.

Ending

Langston closed by describing Bridgewater’s staff and community practices she says underlie the results and the transition plan for leadership: the interim principal said Shane Buyer would step into the interim role as needed. The board did not take formal action on Bridgewater’s goals at the Oct. 14 meeting.