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Administrators cite curriculum overhaul, reading interventions and new programs as early signs of improvement
Summary
Merrimack administrators told the budget committee they have replaced aging curricula, centralized preschool services, expanded Extended Learning Opportunities and introduced structured literacy interventions; early screening data show increases in lower‑grade reading proficiency.
District administrators used the budget presentation to describe academic and programmatic work they say underpins spending requests.
Amy Doyle outlined a district‑wide shift toward structured literacy and targeted interventions. She told the committee that early screening data show progress in lower grades: "62 percent of our third graders are reading proficient or above, and that is about 12 points above the state." She said the district consolidated multiple reading programs, adopted evidence‑based components (phonemic awareness, decodables and fluency work), expanded data‑team progress monitoring and rolled out LETRS professional development where needed.
Administrators also described program expansions: a Pathways to Graduation program for students at risk of dropping out, an increased Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO) program that grew from 23 to 72 students, added PSAT testing in grades 9 and 10 for academic monitoring, and new curricular materials for multilingual learners.
On science, committee members raised concern about vendor language on the Open SciEd website. Amy acknowledged she vetted the selection and said she has contacted the vendor’s CEO; Bill Olson emphasized the district selects curricula for scientific rigor and said the district "does not teach critical race theory." The district said it will continue to share materials and consumable cost estimates (Amy estimated roughly $100,000 annually for literacy consumables).
What’s next: administrators invited deeper review of curricular costs and outcomes and agreed to provide more consumable and implementation cost detail to the committee.
