Wakefield reports midyear gains in elementary literacy; district to refine math review

Wakefield Public Schools presented midyear elementary assessment results Tuesday and described steps to deepen consistent, districtwide intervention and curriculum supports.

The district’s elementary curriculum team said midyear benchmark screening shows roughly three-quarters of students meeting foundational reading expectations: DIBELS performance at or above benchmark was reported at 75.3%, and I‑Ready reading performance at or above grade level at 70.4%. Math midyear results were lower, with 56.9% of students at or above grade level on the i‑Ready math benchmark. Presenters attributed the gap in part to math pacing and sequencing across grades.

The presentation, led by the district curriculum team and principals, summarized five years of work to align math and literacy instruction and to adopt high‑quality instructional materials (HQIM) supported by state grants. District staff said they have standardized data‑meeting structures across schools using DIBELS and i‑Ready and now review multiple testing periods and historical data to determine consistent entry criteria for interventions.

Officials described the district’s approach to interventions as more targeted and collaborative than in prior years: grade‑level teams meet using a shared template; curriculum coordinators, special‑education coordinators, multilingual staff and teachers all sit at the table to identify students for Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports. The presenters said this model has reduced the number of students needing ongoing intervention in grades 3 and 4 and allows the district to reallocate resources to earlier grades and higher‑need students.

District staff also described efforts to bring more intervention and historical tracking into the OpenArchitects dashboard so teams can follow interventions, attendance and standards covered over time. The presentation included an example from Woodville School where targeted kindergarten interventions moved several students from lower tiers to higher benchmark categories.

Next steps for literacy include continuing to match intervention staffing to the district’s highest needs and expanding Boost programs (after‑school/targeted supports) with classroom teachers delivering content; for math the district plans a curriculum review to refine pacing, supplemental materials and accessibility rather than to replace the current HQIM approach. Officials said teachers now have district dashboard access and that weekly professional learning community conversations are increasing the frequency of instructional collaboration.

“Term 2 has now ended…Grades will be available this Thursday, February 12,” student representative Simone Millett said during the meeting when introducing student matters.

The district framed the work as iterative: presenters cautioned that data are a point in time and emphasized continued monitoring through midyear and end‑of‑year measures. The committee heard questions from members about screener coverage for k–2, use of ESGI in kindergarten and whether historical intervention data can be surfaced for cohort tracking; presenters said k–2 pilot use of i‑Ready began last year, kindergarten uses ESGI, and the dashboard work to import prior trackers is underway.

The committee did not take action on curriculum adoption or staffing changes at the meeting; presenters said additional updates will appear as the math review and intervention dashboard work progress.