THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, December 13, 2024 Page 9 DESE | FROM PAGE 1 ondary Education (DESE). The report was presented by Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Komal Bhasin and Assistant Superintendent for Student Services Pamela MacDonald, presenting for the district, with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Timothy Sippel. Most of the numbers and statistics were compared to those compiled in the first full school year considered “Post-Pandemic,” 2021-22. The administrators also said the numbers – particularly graduation rates – were from the 2022-23 school year, as the grading aspect was not applied to the most recent calendar graduation year, which would be the 2023-24 school year. The central administrators noted that the Malden Public Schools district saw improvement in high school areas, such as graduation rates and “extended engagement rates,” while dropout rates stayed stable in some student groupings while it increased in others by a small percentage. Extended engagement rates graded The extended engagement rate is the number of students who end up graduating from high school when they participate in either mainstream or alternative programs for a five-year period rather than the traditional fouryear course of studies. Assistant Superintendent Bhasin reported that Malden’s rates of success in this particular area surpassed all of the peer districts and was very close to the state standard of expectations. Included were significant increases in individual groupings of students with disabilities, Black students and students of Hispanic/Latino background. Malden’s peer districts are listed as Everett, Lowell, Brockton, Waltham and Revere. In this extended engagement graded area, Malden received a full four points – maximum assessed – for its success. In the graded area of chronic absenteeism, where “chronic” is defined as being marked absent from school 18 days in a 180-day school year (10% minimum), Bhasin reported, “In grades 1-8, we hit [all the] DESE targets assigned and reduced absenteeism in all grades.” Here, again, Malden also received four of a possible four graded points. At the high school level, Bhasin said, Malden High School also showed a decrease in chronic absenteeism from 2021-22 [post-pandemic] and “comparable levels shown by all of Malden’s peer districts.” Bhasin added that the Malden district received four of four points in the accountability grading standards. She said that Malden would be striving to improve those absenteeism numbers since about a third of MHS students are listed in the absenteeism group of being marked absent 18 or more days per school year. “We want to reduce those numbers and hold ourselves to a higher bar as absenteeism does not allow students to progress to their academic potential,” Bhasin said. Following the presentation, when the School Committee members asked questions of the administrators, Chairperson and Mayor Gary Christenson thanked the Assistant Superintendents for “a comprehensive, detailed report we could all follow and understand.” Absenteeism of students and teachers In the area of high school absenteeism, School Committee Vice Chairperson Jennifer Spadafora, whose two sons are now Malden High School students, said she saw a correlation between student absenteeism and teacher absenteeism. “I feel like we have a chronic absenteeism issue [with students] that correlates with teacher absenteeism, because we have students who may see the teacher absentee list before school and say, ‘Three of my teachers are out today, why go to school today?’” Assistant Superintendent MacDonald replied, citing some information gleaned from research in her previous district, the Haverhill Public Schools. “I agree. Studies show a relationship between teacher attendance and students’ attendance. In Haverhill, she recalled, “We [did research] and saw a lot of our teachers were out on Fridays, so a lot of our high school students were also out of school on Fridays.” At the meeting, following Assistant Superintendent Bhasin’s presentation, Assistant Superintendent MacDonald gave a detailed summation on “next steps” Malden Public Schools would be taking immediately in response to the DESE Accountability Report. She told the School Committee that Superintendent Sippel has been holding many listening sessions with staff as well as “town hall” meetings with various stakeholders at individual schools as well as with interest groups, such as the Special Education Parent Action Committee (SEPAC), the latter a well-attended Town Hall held at the Salemwood K-8 School. Supt. Sippel has also been holding a number of strategic planning sessions for the upcoming calendar year 2025 (and second half of the academic year), MacDonald reported. She also revealed a planned expansion and redesignation of the Early College Program, which will offer students more opportunities to take Advanced Courses, specifically college-level courses, in collaboration with Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC). “This will allow us to include a more diverse group of students to participate in this early college program,” she said. As for next steps in the area of Student Monitoring and Intervention – primarily at-risk students who may be in the umbrella of MCAS testing result issues, in dropout or graduation requirement danger and others – Assistant Superintendent MacDonald spoke of available programs: some existing, some being added to the resource list. Student Monitoring and Intervention These include: —Tutoring for those students who may have to retake the MCAS test —Targeted instruction and post-secondary planning assistance for at-risk students in need of support toward high school graduation (Acceleration Academy) —Additional targeted intervention for students at-risk for either dropping out or not graduating on time (Saturday School, where live teachers in all subjects are available 9 a.m.-noon at Malden High to assist students in catching up assignments at no charge to students’ families) “We want to make sure we are playing the long game, as well as addressing our students’ needs right now,” MacDonald said. All individual district gradings are available on the DESE website for Malden and all other communities in Massachusetts at www. doe.ma.edu He’s Back...and Better Than Ever! John A. 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