LYNN — A new report from School Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler shows he has been able to meet goals centered around district improvement, but still has some work to do with meeting the needs of two underperforming groups of students.
Tutwiler has released his End of Cycle Report, which is a self-assessment of the goals he set for himself for the 2018-19 school year, his first as the district’s superintendent.
Results show he has determined he was able to reduce middle school overcrowding and develop a comprehensive pre-K to 5 social-emotional learning curriculum.
But he was not able to reduce the academic achievement gap between students with disabilities and their regular education counterparts for math and English Language Arts MCAS scores for grades 3-8, nor was he able to increase the percentage of students making progress toward English Language proficiency. Students with disabilities and English Language Learners (ELLs) are the lowest performing subgroups in the district.
“These are extremely rigorous goals,” Tutwiler said. “I’m my own worst critic. I’m fiercely passionate about partnering with the Lynn Public Schools team and the broader community to continuously improve and get the district to a place I believe it can go.”
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)-required report includes Tutwiler’s goals for student learning, district improvement and professional practice. The results are part of the criteria used by the School Committee in their evaluation process for the superintendent.
Tutwiler wrote in his self-assessment that he has made “some progress” toward, but did not meet his three student learning goals, a category aimed at increasing achievement for all students. He determined that he has “met” his four district improvement goals, and those he set for professional practice, which means he was able to complete his professional development activities.
Superintendents grade themselves on their self-identified goals on a DESE-determined scale that ranges from “did not meet,” “some progress,” “significant progress,” “met” and “exceeded.”
Tutwiler said he was able to reduce overcrowding at the district’s three middle schools through the creation of the eighth grade, vocational-skills based discovery academy, which opened this school year and houses 300 students. His administration has developed a social-emotional learning curriculum, another district improvement goal which is being implemented this school year at the pre-K to 5 level.
He has been able to develop a three-year strategy to recruit, professionally develop and retain a diverse staff, a plan he introduced at a School Committee meeting last month centered around school officials’ belief that there’s benefit to a teaching staff that reflects its diverse (87 percent non-white) student body; and work with educators, school officials and the community to develop a 5-year district strategic plan to replace the previous expired plan.
“I felt like these (district improvement) goals reflected both addressing needs, but also sharpening the lens toward the future, which needed to happen in my first year,” Tutwiler said. “We’re thoughtful and serious about meeting student needs and creating a pathway to ensure that they’re maximizing their potential.”
Despite the positive district achievement, Tutwiler was not able to reduce the academic achievement gap for students with disabilities on the MCAS by three points, as desired. The gap for those students and their peers grew by about 1½ points for both ELA and math, but he said the gap grew because regular education students increased their scores last year.
He noted in his assessment that there was a 19 percent increase in special education students meeting their state accountability targets in grades 3 to 8 last year, a system that measures district performance based on factors such as MCAS scores, chronic absenteeism and English language proficiency.
“The goal was exceptionally rigorous and rigorous goals aren’t always achieved in one year,” said Tutwiler. “The scores improved, although the gap also increased.”
The superintendent aimed to increase ELLs making progress toward English language proficiency from 48 to 52 percent, but the number instead slipped to 46 percent.
The district is trying to figure out why, when there was a focus on professional development around meeting the needs of those students last year, Tutwiler said. That strategy is continuing this year, along with the hope that the addition of 13 ESL teachers will boost performance, he said.
Some progress was made on reducing chronic absenteeism in the district. The goal was met at the high school level, and there was improvement, but it was not met at the non-high school level.
Tutwiler attributed the improvement to the district’s “Every Student, Every Day” attendance initiative, along with the placement of wellness teams in schools that have studied attendance data and worked with families and students.
School Committee Michael Satterwhite said students with disabilities and ELLs may have struggled with taking the MCAS on paper last year, which was due to the district’s internet virus, and may have led to a failure to meet certain goals.
“I think that Dr. Tutwiler takes his job very seriously and it’s shown through actions he took over the past year with taking different development courses to improve his superintendent skills and meeting with a mentor who is a retired superintendent over the past year,” Satterwhite said.
