SPRINGFIELD TRANSFORMATION SCHOOLS - LEVEL 4 SCHOOLS

March 4, 2010

Dear Springfield Public Schools Parents, Guardians and Partners:

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) today announced an initiative under the new education reform law that will help us accelerate the school improvement work we have been focused on for the past 18 months. In their announcement today, DESE identified 10 schools as transformation schools in our district. This means that the state will work with Springfield Public Schools in a new way to help ensure that these schools experience rapid transformation and improved student performance.

These schools were chosen as transformation schools based primarily on MCAS performance over a four-year period in Math, English Language Arts and the high number of students who scored in the “warning” or “failing” category. The schools scored in the lowest 20 percent of schools across the state and were deemed as under performing.

More than 6,660 students attend the 10 schools. Eighty-five percent are low-income, 24 percent are students with disabilities and 18 percent are limited English proficient. This is a chance to get new results for these students.

Since I took the helm as Superintendent of Schools 18 months ago, I have worked hard to begin addressing the needs of our lowest performing schools. This academic school year, the district ushered in a partnership with Focus on Results, a school-based school improvement entity, to provide coaching and support to Brightwood, Brookings, Homer Street, Kiley, White Street, Gerena, Chestnut, Kennedy, and Commerce High and other schools. The support provided to these schools is in the areas of leadership development and improved instruction at all levels.

And while the DESE initiative draws attention to the important role of leadership at the school building level, the district has itself identified principal leadership as a critical area of focus and adopted a rigorous new process to place experienced and talented principals in our highest needs schools.

Under that strategic process, the district appointed new principals to Brightwood, Brookings, White Street, Chestnut and Commerce High schools within the past 18 months. As part of the transformation work, DESE has said that principals who have been at the identified schools for more than two years must be replaced by the start of the 2010-11 school year. These schools are Gerena, Homer, Zanetti, Kiley and Kennedy and we will carefully examine the implications of this requirement.

Over the past 18 months, the district has enacted new initiatives and policies that address everything from student progression and school assignment to attendance and grading policies. But systemic change takes time and that work has not been enough. Now, I welcome the state’s involvement and commitment to help us accelerate that growth, which is critical to our vision of educational excellence for all of our students. New funding and support from the state and federal government are now available. With this help, we have an opportunity to build on this work.

The work ahead of us is monumental and there will be difficult decisions along the way. I promise I will make those decisions based on only one thing – the best interest of our students. We embrace this unique opportunity for the Springfield community to come together and do work to change schools so that all of our students – not just some of them - are provided with meaningful improvements. We have a chance to design a great program, provide more support for teachers and students and make change that we believe benefits the entire community.

I look forward to your involvement and participation in this process.

Sincerely,

Alan J. Ingram, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

Level 4 Letter to Parents:

- Open Letters to Parents - English (PDF)
- Open Letters to Parents - Spanish (PDF)

Level 4 FAQ's:

- Level 4 Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)

Level 4 School Webpages:

- Brightwood Elementary Level 4 Webpage
- Brookings Elementary Level 4 Webpage
- Gerena Elementary Level 4 Webpage
- Homer Street Elementary Level 4 Webpage
- White Street Elementary Level 4 Webpage
- Zanetti Montessori K-8 Level 4 Webpage
- Chestnut Accelerated Middle School Level 4 Webpage
- Kennedy Middle School Level 4 Webpage
- Kiley Middle School Level 4 Webpage
- High School of Commerce Level 4 Webpage

To View PDF Files

- Back to Top -