Superintendent's Report to SC 9.28.23

 

 

SWAMPSCOTT PUBLIC SCHOOLS

TO: Swampscott School Committee

FROM:  Superintendent Angelakis

DATE:  September 28, 2023

RE:  Superintendent’s Report 

Financial Literacy Boston Globe Article

I am proud that Susan Comparato and Swampscott High School are part of this state conversation. 

Financial Lit Article

Enrollment Specific Information

Please remember this is not the official and final data. You will receive that information after filing the required October 1 report. Of the 152 students who registered for SPS, 51 require English Language services—five students enrolled from other countries, including Spain, Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, and Israel. 

Newcomers, or beginners, federally require more daily service minutes than intermediate students. This has already resulted in an unanticipated increase in an EL teacher from .5 FTE to a 1.0 FTE.

School Committee CORE Training

FROM: Dr. Jean Bacon

Per your interest and request at the September 14th School Committee meeting, we invite you to participate in one of our CORE PD opportunities this year, per your interest/availability:

CORE Foundational PD (that we require of all SPS staff). Participants explore their own social identities and learn how diverse social identities impact our students/families and educational opportunities/outcomes more generally.

There will be two cohorts this year:

Fall: October 5, October 25, and December 6

Winter: January 10, February 7, and March 6

They meet from 12:15 to 3:15 or 12:40 to 3:40

SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity).  This PD will be on all 6 of the PD half days noted above. It follows the curriculum of the National SEED Institute out of Wellesley College and is facilitated by two SPS staff members who have completed their SEED leadership training. It is a deeper exploration of the social identities and implications for educational practice covered in the CORE Foundational training. All members of the SPS administration and our CORE teacher leaders completed this PD in 2021-22.

Please let me know if you are interested in participating in either of these opportunities. If these sessions are not convenient/possible for you because of the timing, we can work out a training schedule for the School Committee to better meet your interests and needs.

MCAS - Overview

SPS outperformed the state at the elementary level (grades 3 to 5) by a significant margin (5% to 15% more of our students met or exceeded expectations than students across the state). Results in grades 6 to 10 were more mixed. SPS students performed at or below the state average in some subjects and grade levels.

In almost all grade levels and subject areas, SPS students are still performing below their pre-pandemic levels of achievement, as is the case for students across the state. The one exception is in elementary mathematics, where SPS students in grades 3 and 4, with two years of steady progress, now outperformed their 2019 achievement level by about 9% (58% met/exceeded the standard compared to 49% in 2019).

At our next meeting on October 12th, Dr. Jean Bacon will present a more in-depth look at our MCAS results.