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Three Weymouth schools outline improvement plans; district to offer Amplify tutoring to flagged students
Summary
Principals from the Early Childhood Center, Academy Avenue and Murphy School presented multi‑year improvement plans focused on student belonging, UDL and targeted interventions. The district said an Amplify tutoring grant will provide free, online literacy tutoring for flagged students three times per week.
Principals from three Weymouth schools presented their third‑year school improvement updates on Oct. 9, highlighting student belonging, targeted instruction and family engagement.
Mara Perez, principal of the Weymouth Early Childhood Center, described implementation of a new Second Step curriculum, universal lesson templates on a shared Google Drive and use of behavior incident reports to guide interventions. Perez said assessment occurs in October, January and May and that DESE indicator 7 data will be used to track progress.
Academy Avenue Principal Pat Higgins presented Panorama survey and MCAS data and noted the school received a DESE percentile rating of 73 and was classified as making substantial progress. Higgins described growth in reading and math diagnostics, PBIS successes and plans to expand walk‑through feedback and tiered supports. He said an Amplify tutoring pilot will begin next week for students flagged by early screening.
Murphy School Principal Costello outlined belonging efforts including community circles, weekly SEL lessons, and a new Murphy Movers student leadership group. Costello reported growth in benchmark assessments and described family outreach, early literacy screening and a plan to run Amplify tutoring during the school day for first‑grade students who are flagged.
District curriculum staff said the Amplify program is funded by a DESE high‑impact early literacy tutoring grant and will provide online tutoring three times a week for 30 minutes by qualified literacy specialists; sessions happen during the school day and are monitored so students may graduate from the tutoring as they meet benchmarks.
Public commenters praised Murphy’s presentation, urged a long‑term town‑wide vision linking school improvement to municipal priorities and encouraged stronger school council representation. Committee members asked about supports for students in the red and orange performance bands and requested district‑level trend data for comparison across years.
