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The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Level 5 Schools — Quarterly Progress Report

To:
Members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
From:
Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D., Commissioner
Date:
April 15, 2016

In the fall of 2013, four schools were designated as chronically underperforming (or Level 5) schools in response to their low performance and lack of improvement while in Level 4 status: John P. Holland Elementary School (UP Academy Holland) and Paul A. Dever Elementary School (Dever) in Boston, Morgan Full Service Community School (Morgan) in Holyoke, and John Avery Parker Elementary School (Parker) in New Bedford.

Quarter 3 Progress Reports

This month I am presenting the third of four FY2016 quarterly progress reports to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on the four schools. The reports include updates from each receiver and Superintendent Durkin on implementation of the school turnaround plans, focusing on activities from January-March 2016. A final annual written report on the progress of turnaround plan implementation for each Level 5 school for FY2016 will be presented in June 2016.

Family and Community Partnerships

At the Board meeting in February, we briefly discussed family and community engagement in relation to the Level 5 schools. Russell Johnston, Senior Associate Commissioner, and members of his office regularly engage the receivership teams in Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings, and the December PLC meeting focused on improving partnerships among families, community members, and the schools. In particular, the teams focused on the practices outlined in the Family, School, and Community Partnerships Fundamentals report, which was a project coordinated by the Board's Parent and Community Education and Involvement Advisory Council and released in March 2015. The receivers and DESE staff continually review this topic in order to ensure that parents and community members are engaged meaningfully and purposefully at each Level 5 school.

Senior Associate Commissioner Russell Johnston will be at the April Board meeting to answer your questions.


Attachments:

Level 5 Schools Quarterly Report, April 2016, for:

Download PDF Document
Paul A. Dever Elementary School (content provided by Blueprint Schools Network)
Download PDF Document
UP Academy Holland (content provided by UP Education Network)
Download PDF Document
John Avery Parker Elementary School (content provided by Superintendent Pia Durkin)
Download PDF Document
Morgan Full Service Community School (content provided by Superintendent Stephen Zrike)