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District reports MAP gains, modest attendance improvements and expanded literacy focus under SOA plan
Summary
District presenters told the school committee they are in year two of a Student Opportunity Act plan, receive about $35,000 annually, reported MAP growth percentiles above the 50th in many grades, modest attendance gains and plans to add ELA/literacy supports and professional development.
A district presenter updated the Maynard School Committee on implementation of the Student Opportunity Act (SOA) plan, saying the district is in year two of a three-year plan and receives roughly $35,000 per year from the program.
The presenter said early MAP intervention results show encouraging growth: grade-one students were around the 67th percentile for growth and grade two around the mid-60s, with a majority of grades showing growth above the 50th percentile. "We want to see that growth metric above that 50th percentile," the presenter said, and framed the results as early momentum while noting achievement levels still require sustained work.
On attendance, the presenter said overall rates improved from 94% (2023'4) to 94.4% (2024'5), with historically vulnerable groups—particularly Black and African-American students—showing the largest gains after individualized outreach and targeted supports.
District leaders said they have expanded the SOA focus beyond math to include ELA and literacy. They described a new district literacy leadership team, work with a literacy consultant to inform action planning, and plans for professional development including participation in a state literacy institute and an in-district PD launch. The presenter noted the district is layering tiered interventions with efforts to strengthen core instruction and teacher supports.
Committee members pressed for details on professional development cadence, vertical alignment between grades, onboarding for new staff and how writing is being assessed. Presenters said the district will provide beginning-of-year PD, uses asynchronous modules supplied by the curriculum vendor, will offer summer institutes, and is conducting local writing prompts and schoolwide scoring to track writing practice beyond MAP measures.
Committee members and staff discussed tradeoffs between contracting consultants and hiring in-house specialists for data and instructional coaching; presenters said consultants are being used while the district evaluates long-term staffing options.
The committee did not vote on policy in the meeting; it asked presenters to continue reporting progress and to provide subgroup-level writing and assessment results in future updates.
