On January thirteenth, twenty-twenty-six, journalists from Sutton High News interviewed the district’s Superintendent, Caitlin Paget.
She gave us insights into new initiatives that the district will be implementing in the schools.
Initiatives are the start of something new, with the hope that it will continue overtime.
One of the new initiatives, Superintendent Paget mentioned, that caught my attention was that kindergarten through fifth grade doesn’t have a core ELA program, so they are amplifying arts, letters, and ELA education.
There are nine teachers involved throughout three different grade levels (kindergarten, third and fifth grade) so all of the kids are getting different experiences from the same grade due to the teachers not having a common program to go with.
This new program costs one hundred thousand dollars to bring into our schools curriculum. Superintendent Paget wants the staff who will be getting these new programs to provide feedback. She is hopeful that these programs will support and give the teachers what they need to be able to succeed, and students will get a similar learning experience in each classroom.
The district is giving the Elementary teachers and staff a professional development day around this program, so they will not be incredibly stressed or overwhelmed, and will take time to figure out the new program to the best of their abilities. Also, these teachers will have additional days to collaborate about the new program, and they are tentatively planned for the very first Wednesday of the month, and this day will be half day.
Overall, Superintendent Paget wants to support and encourage all staff at Sutton Public Schools and the kids that they teach to have a quality learning experience and get the information they need to succeed.
The next initiative that the district is implementing in the middle school is trying for more common assessment points, but it is possible that the data may not help with MCAS. The scores of MCAS can vary due to different programs throughout the classrooms.
The common assessment is Star Renaissance, math and reading assessments that are roughly twenty to thirty minutes each. These new assessments will show how the students compare to other students in the sixth grade in the nation. The common test or quiz will help teachers figure out what the students need help with or what they need to change with how they are teaching the topic to the classes.
The district hopes to put these new assessments into the schedule next school year for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade; they are also hoping to also put this in elementary and high school levels.
Something they would also create for tenth graders is a common assessment for math. For this assessment, they want to see if the students in the grade can get a sixty or above on all of them, which could be the new requirement to graduate.
These new initiatives are just some that the Sutton Public School district is putting in to hopefully improve the learning and success of all of the students and staff.
