EASTHAMPTON — Since Superintendent Michelle Balch took over at Easthampton Public Schools, she has hosted more than 50 meetings with families, teachers and administrators. She then assembled the feedback from those meetings into a 10-page report, summarizing the district’s strengths and weaknesses, which she presented last Tuesday.
After starting last July, Balch said she made it one of her goals to connect with the 1,400 students in the district. Through 13 public listening sessions welcoming students, families and community members, 45 private meetings with teachers and administrators and a student survey, Balch created the report to help guide the district through the next three to five years.
The report includes the district’s first ever set of core values, a revised mission and vision statement while summarizing a series of strengths and weaknesses vocalized by community members.
One of the strengths identified is a dedicated and caring set of teachers, while a weakness found is a lack of understanding of the district’s curriculum. The report also includes data, such as MCAS testing scores, that shows the district is slightly below the state average in certain subjects.
“I was really impressed at the four words that came out the most and I kind of bucketed them into these core values,” Balch said at the School Committee’s Jan. 13 meeting.
School Committee members lauded the report and the work that Balch has done while discussing next steps that can be taken with the information. Several noted that compared to where the district was when they started on the committee, the report is huge leap forward, setting the district up for success.
“When I first started on School Committee, the idea that we would have been talking about one of the problems in the district is we don’t have enough positive, celebratory communication with families — Go Easthampton, that’s progress,” said School Committee Chair Laura Scott.
Scott said that when she first started on the committee, everything was “triage work” focusing on the budget and the conversations now have a much different tone.
The new core values detailed are learning, equity, belonging and shared responsibility. Balch’s presentation dove into each value, which were identified based on the frequency they were cited in the meetings she hosted.
“We haven’t had core values as a district and I feel like they truly represent not only the voice of the community but who we are as a district,” Balch said.
Report findings
The report highlights five categories of findings: Teaching and Learning; Culture, Climate, and Belonging; Student Engagement and Well-Being; Communication and Family Partnerships; and Equity and Access.
Under Teaching and Learning, it describes that families, students and staff consistently see their educators as heavily invested in student success, though there is a desire for a stronger instructional coherence across grade levels.
The report quotes a family member speaking during one of Balch’s listening sessions: “We have teachers who really care about kids. What feels inconsistent is how much they’re expected to do and how clear the expectations are.”
Data points under the section state that district MCAS data show that overall student performance in English language arts and mathematics remains below state averages, with gaps of approximately 8 to 12 percentage points depending on grade level and subject. These gaps are more pronounced in middle school grades.
Longitudinal STAR Reading and Mathematics data also show slight drops in performance benchmarks when students hit grades six and seven.
“Achievement and engagement declined a little bit during middle school and this is not something that is specific to Easthampton,” Balch explained. “This is a trend that is happening across the nation.”
This same finding also reviews data from students echoed by staff members, stating, “Student voice data highlight a clear connection between instructional rigor and engagement. Students reported higher levels of motivation when learning was intellectually challenging, interactive, and connected to real-world applications. Conversely, disengagement was often associated with repetitive tasks, unclear expectations, or work that felt disconnected from meaningful outcomes.”
Under Finding 4, Communication & Family Partnerships, the report explains that families show appreciation for Easthampton’s welcoming school environments, though they also seek more clarity and consistency when it comes to curriculum expectations and behavioral policies.
Balch said that implementing Parent Square, a dashboard for families, teachers and administrators to communicate information, has been a gamechanger to boost communication and coherency to help parents understand what their kids are learning.
“I think it’s the start,” Balch said about Parent Square. “I think we still have more work to do but it is a strength and I think everybody in the listening sessions recognized that.”
Finding 5, Equity and Access, shows that students with disabilities, English learners, and economically disadvantaged students consistently perform below their peers in both English language arts and mathematics, with gaps becoming more apparent in middle school grades.
As cohorts move into middle school, STAR Reading and Math data show that a greater percentage of students fall into intervention ranges.
“We have some work to do in that area and if we’re going to say we believe in equity, then we need to close those gaps because that’s what gaps represent, inequities,” Balch said.
Additionally, district data shows disproportionality in student special education identification and services, particularly among those from historically underrepresented groups. Students receiving special education services are “overrepresented” in more intensive academic and behavioral supports.
Looking ahead
Based on the report, Balch said a strategic planning committee will be formed to help steward this information into a strategic plan, and the good work is just about to start.
“The strategic plan is going to be our road map,” Balch explained. “What’s going to happen in the next three years, what’s going to happen in the next five years and what are we going to prioritize?”
Balch said she will have more information about the committee and it’s timeline at the School Committee’s next meeting, but she hopes a strategic plan will be made ahead of the next school year.
Newly elected School Committee member Bonnie Atkins said having attended many listening sessions, she saw the way Balch listened and validated input, and appreciates the transparency of the process.
Near the end of the presentation, Balch said moving forward she also hopes to bolster relationships between the city and the schools, to help develop a school budget that aligns priorities.
“There’s a real opportunity — new superintendent, new mayor — to become real partners in this work and I’m excited to do that with you mayor,” she said to Mayor Salem Derby.
Additionally, she hopes to continue reviewing staffing, class sizes, programs and special education training, while focusing on the district’s goals.