District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Education

Status of Winchendon Public School District

At the March 2008 meeting, the Board received information about the Winchendon Public Schools and the district's current status as an underperforming district. The materials that were provided included:

• District Progress Report submitted by Superintendent Peter Azar
• Report from the Educational Development Center (EDC - the state-appointed Turn-Around Partner for the district), and
• Packet of accountability data that presented longitudinal student performance data and AYP progress measures.

At that meeting, I indicated that I would make a recommendation to the Board at the April meeting on the status of the Winchendon Public School district.

The most recent information regarding the district's improvement initiatives indicates that the district has:

• made progress in aligning the district's curricula to state standards
• put in place leadership for curricular and instructional improvement, and
• implemented systematic processes for collecting and using data to inform instructional decision-making.

In their comments to the Board in March, both Superintendent Azar and School Committee Chair Michael Niles noted that the Winchendon Public Schools must sustain the current commitment to district-wide improvement and build on the progress they have made over the last four years. I agree with their assessment that much work remains to be done in order to improve educational outcomes for all Winchendon students.

The support that the Department has provided to the Winchendon Public Schools during the district's period of underperforming status has helped build the district's capacity to engage in significant improvement work by focusing on the quality of teaching and learning, both system-wide and within individual schools.

Many districts in our Commonwealth have a high priority for targeted state assistance. We must allocate our resources carefully to support those districts and schools with the most significant performance issues.

With all these factors in mind, I am recommending that the Board vote to remove Winchendon Public Schools from underperforming district status.

The Department will continue to support the collaborative work of Winchendon and its neighboring districts as they pursue regional opportunities to realize fiscal efficiencies and share successful improvement strategies.

For your information, we are including the materials that were provided in last month's Board packet.

Attachments:

	District Progress Report, submitted by Superintendent Peter Azar
	Turn-Around Partner Report, submitted by EDC, Inc.
	Winchendon Student Performance and Enrollment Data Summary
	Winchendon Public Schools 2007 Adequate Yearly Progress Reports