By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The Administrative Leadership Team (ALT) gave an update on the school improvement plans for the 2023-2024 academic year during a recent School Committee meeting. 

Elementary schools

Summer Street School Principal Karen Cronin and Huckleberry Hill School Principal Melissa Wyland discussed the two goals included on the elementary school improvement plans this past year. 

Cronin said the first goal focused on the instructional and assessment practices related to the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) model to ensure there is “equitable student access to learning.”

 “Being able to do this for a second year really gave us the opportunity to dig in more and start to refine it,” said Cronin 

Cronin said both elementary schools continued using Renaissance Star assessments in order to “get a sense of how the kids are doing.” 

“This was the second year using that system,” said Cronin. “The teachers’ comfort level increased and I think our students are now more familiar with that system.” 

Wyland said both elementary schools used data team meetings in order to review students’ academic progress and adjust instructional practices.  

“When we are looking at a grade level, it is telling us what immediate adjustments we must make,” said Wyland. “At the classroom level, it is what area do we need to reteach because a large group of students are struggling. We also identified targeted goals for each individual student.” 

School Committee member Jamie Hayman said administering assessments to students frequently “gives parents a better understanding” of how their children are doing in school.  

Cronin also said both elementary schools continued using the What I Need (WIN) blocks “in order to design interventions for kids.” 

Both elementary schools implemented standards-based report cards for the first time this academic year. Cronin said the standards-based report cards “drill down into some of the specific standards” for each grade level. 

Hayman said he is “excited” that the new report cards were launched this year after school officials have discussed them for a number of years. 

Cronin also said both elementary schools held parent-teacher conferences in the fall and the spring in order to a better understanding of students’ academic progress. 

School Committee Vice Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy said holding parent-teacher conferences in both the fall and the spring was “great” because it gave parents and guardians a better understanding of students’ academic strengths and challenges. 

In addition to the MTSS goal, Wyland said both elementary schools worked to “create a sense of belonging in our schools.”

“We felt that it was really important to reinstate a social-emotional learning (SEL) block into our schedule,” said Wyland. “Our teachers do an incredible job integrating SEL into all that they do, but we found that some of our kids don’t have those foundational skills. We really needed to teach things such as sharing, empathy and perseverance.”

Wyland said Huckleberry Hill continued using the Second Step SEL framework. She said “Huckleberry Hero” assemblies continued being held this academic year. 

“There is typically a theme for each assembly,” said Wyland. “There is also a buddy project that involves having the younger kids work with the older kids.” 

Cronin said Summer Street piloted the Paths SEL framework this year, and said the faculty and staff is “interested in using that program next year.” 

“Summer Street has ‘Great Gatherings’ once a month, which is similar to the Huckleberry Hero assemblies,” said Cronin. “It is really student-led. They present what they are learning to one another. It’s a beautiful time because children are learning from one another. Students are learning not only about a specific topic, but they are also learning what it means to be a supportive member of the community.” 

Elworthy commended both elementary schools for having older students build relationships with their younger peers. 

 “It’s really nice to see because that is how you build community in Lynnfield,” said Elworthy.  

School Committee Chair Kate DePrizio and School Committee member Jenny Sheehan both commended Cronin and Wyland for collaborating with teachers and staff while working on the improvement plan’s two goals. 

Lynnfield Middle School

Principal Stephen Ralston said the theme for Lynnfield Middle School’s improvement plan for 2023-2024 was “reimagining LMS.” 

Ralston said the middle school’s “primary focus” this year was incorporating MTSS interventions into English language arts and math classes “across all grade levels.” He thanked Interim Superintendent Tom Geary and the School Committee for supporting his budget request to bring back the interventionist positions, formerly known as tutors, that former Superintendent Kristen Vogel cut from the budget two years ago. 

“I cannot say how thrilled we are to have interventionists back at the middle school for next year,” said Ralston. “We are going to be able to serve students in all four grades.” 

Ralston said the middle school developed a new schedule for the 2024-2025 academic year this year. 

“On the surface, it does not look like much of a change especially in grades 5, 6 and 7,” said Ralston. “All of the students will have their core subjects every day and will have their elective classes. The biggest change was with world language. In grade 8, Spanish or French will meet every day similar to math, science, English and civics. After getting feedback from the high school over the years, we feel this is the best model to prepare students for the high school. Students will still have the same number of world language classes they have had previously or will have in the future.”

In response to a question from Elworthy, Ralston said world language classes are “kind of all over the place in Massachusetts middle schools.”

 “I worked in a different middle school prior to Lynnfield that had world language in grades 6, 7 and 8 every day for all three years,” said Ralston. “That all together counted as Spanish 1 and when those students went to high school, they would go into Spanish 2. We have that at the middle school. Being completely honest, the other district’s Spanish 2 is probably further along than our Spanish 2. If a college admissions board is looking at transcripts, they are seeing two or three years of a world language that a student is taking. They are not getting into the curriculum and comparing one district to another.”

Hayman said the School Committee has discussed expanding the world language programs for a number of years. He recalled that Lynnfield Community Schools was offering the Global Child after-school program for elementary students during the 2019-2020 academic year. 

“We wanted to see what the interest level was,” said Hayman. “I think that one is on us and ultimately is a money issue.” 

Ralston said the middle school is trying to figure out where the Advisory Program will fit into the new schedule. 

Hayman said the middle school’s new schedule is a “very positive and significant change.” 

“I think it’s going to have a huge impact on our students when they get to high school,” said Hayman. 

Lynnfield High School

Principal Tricia Puglisi discussed the initiatives Lynnfield High School undertook as part of the 2023-2024 improvement plan. 

While Puglisi said LHS had previously been working to implement the Vision of the Graduate initiative that is now being required by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), she decided to “pause” it this year. 

“The prior Vision of the Graduate had been developed during COVID, and was developed by a small group of people,” said Puglisi. “It was not widely known or understood by the full faculty. I thought it was important to take a step back and begin that process from the beginning.”

After deciding to “reboot” Vision of the Graduate, Puglisi said LHS officials and educators had “conversations about what skills students should have upon graduating from Lynnfield High School.” She said those conversations led to new focus areas for Vision of the Graduate being developed: Communication, collaboration, problem solving, grit and resilience, and global citizenship.

Hayman commended Puglisi for deciding to overhaul Vision of the Graduate. 

“We have been hearing about it for awhile, and it needed work,” said Hayman.

Puglisi also noted that the high school will be adding 12 new courses in the 2024-2025 academic year. 

“We revamped our schedule,” said Puglisi. “For example, there were students this year who had two or three studies. We built next year’s schedule already. Students in grades 9 to 11 do not have more than one study, and students can also choose to have no studies because we have courses available. Students in grade 12 might have one-and-a-half studies based on how their gym classes works.” 

Hayman said adding the 12 new courses is a “huge win” for Lynnfield High. 

“The 12 new courses at the high school expands the options,” said Hayman.  

DePrizio said she was impressed with the way Puglisi has been “soliciting staff feedback for the whole year and have made them partners.”