November 10, 2006
Dear Sanderson Parents and Guardians:
Sanderson Academy has been named a School in Need of Improvement by the Massachusetts Department of Education. This determination is based on 2005 and 2006 student MCAS scores, specifically grades 3 and 4, which failed to demonstrate Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the aggregate for two consecutive years in English Language Arts (ELA).
As required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, all schools and districts are expected to meet or exceed specific student performance standards in ELA/reading and math by the year 2014. School and district AYP determinations are made based on the performance of students in the aggregate and for student sub-groups for both ELA and mathematics.
As a result of this AYP deficiency, Sanderson Academy will revise its 2-year School Improvement Plan (SIP). The revised SIP must be completed no later than three months after the school was identified for improvement, which occurred on October 19, 2006. To begin facilitating input from parents, school staff, and others, a meeting, which was highly publicized in advance, was held on Monday, November 6, 2006 at the school.
Pending the formal revision to the SIP, the District has already taken a series of actions: hired a full-time reading teacher for all grades, hired a half-time grade 1 classroom teacher, and added a full-time instructional assistant to support several grades. On November 8th, utilizing a portion of recently acquired state foundation reserve “pot-hole” funding, School Committee authorized increasing the half-time grade 1 classroom teacher to full-time as well as the hiring of a district elementary mathematics specialist in a pro-active step to address concerning student MCAS math scores at both Sanderson Academy and Colrain Central.
We invite and welcome your ideas about how we can further improve student learning at Sanderson Academy. You may contact the Superintendent’s office at 625-0192 to find out how to offer suggestions and to contribute to the revised SIP, which needs to be completed by mid-January 2007.
Thank you for the privilege of educating your children. The District looks forward to working with you to correct this AYP issue and make Sanderson Academy a model of educational excellence.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Buoniconti Superintendent of Schools
