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Malden reports midyear literacy and math gains; attendance initiatives launched
Summary
The superintendent’s midyear report showed K–8 reading and math gains and higher kindergarten literacy scores; the district outlined an attendance playbook, RISE ninth‑grade supports, and pilot programs for eighth graders to address chronic absenteeism.
MALDEN — The Malden School Committee received midyear assessment results and an attendance update at its March 2 meeting, with district leaders reporting measurable gains in multiple assessments and rolling out programs to reduce chronic absenteeism.
Assistant Superintendent KL Bassin summarized a video memo of midyear assessment results, saying kindergarten foundational literacy scores were the highest in three years and that the district saw statistically significant progress in ELA and math in grades K–8, including progress for students with disabilities. Bassin said the district uses DIBELS for foundational literacy, I‑Ready for reading benchmarks and EXL for some measures and that a longer video and slide deck with grade‑ and subgroup‑level detail is posted on the committee page.
Committee members asked for subgroup and grade-level breakdowns, particularly for English learners and Hispanic students; Bassin said the video provides that detail and cautioned that small sample sizes can make statistical significance difficult to interpret for narrow subgroups. Staff described ongoing progress monitoring (probes every few weeks) to adjust intervention groups.
Assistant Superintendent Pam McDonald reported declines in year‑to‑date chronic absenteeism: K–8 year‑to‑date rate is about 14% (down about 3 percentage points), and the high school rate is about 26% year to date. The district described a multi-tier attendance playbook (universal supports to tier‑three intensive interventions), weekly school attendance teams (principal, assistant principals, guidance, nurse, teachers), and outreach protocols including referral to outside agencies for tier 3 cases.
McDonald also described RISE network and on‑track initiatives for ninth graders, and an ontrack/promotion academy and a Summerbridge pilot aimed at eighth graders at risk of falling behind. The district said it will monitor end‑of‑year data in June and continue three assessment points per year for the measures discussed.
The committee asked for further breakdowns of chronic absenteeism by subgroup and for correlation with administrative changes in K–8 schools; administrators agreed to provide updated charts excluding older pre‑pandemic years and to include administrative-structure change dates for comparison.
No formal votes were taken on the academic or attendance reports; members thanked staff for the presentations and asked for continued updates.
