AMHERST — MCAS English language arts assessments showing seven in 10 Amherst Regional High School 10th graders are meeting or exceeding expectations and a more than 50% drop in behavioral referrals at Pelham Elementary School are among signs of progress being made under the district’s state-mandated Student Opportunity Act Plan.

In an overview of the work done to execute the plan, presented at the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional school committees joint meeting May 13, Tonya McIntyre, director of curriculum, equity and instructional leadership, explained there have been successes so far.

The improved 10th grade scores for the MCAS tests, up from 65% meeting or exceeding expectations last year, McIntyre said, is an early sign that Tier 1 instruction and expanded supports are improving secondary literacy outcomes. And the focus on instructional coherence and social-emotional learning implementation, she said, explains how close to 60% of Pelham Elementary students met or exceeded expectations in both English language arts and math tests, and behavioral referrals dropped by 57%.

Across the district, the aim is to address persistent disparities among English learners, students with disabilities, low-income students, Black students and Hispanic students, with a focus on improving social-emotional learning, curriculum quality and consistency, attendance and family engagement.

Adopted in 2019, the Student Opportunity Act requires all districts to create three-year plans to confront disparities in achievement and attendance, though Amherst is among districts across the state not receiving more money for this work. As an unfunded mandate, the schools have invested $7.4 million over three years for the regional schools, $2.3 million for the Amherst schools and $388,281 for the Pelham school.

Last year, the effort put a focus on dealing with chronic absenteeism, defined as students who miss 10% of the school calendar, or 18 days, which is prevalent among those populations facing persistent disparities.

At the regional schools, all district staff are being trained in Welcoming Schools, a bias-based bullying prevention program, while Amherst Family Center staff are being extended out to the middle and high schools, and are being embedded to work with families in a more targeted way.

“The Family Center is everywhere, working with families and doing outreach to families to make sure they feel connected and a sense of belonging,” McIntyre said.

Increased caregiver participation, student support teams and more curriculum events are also part of this work, with an “every caregiver counts” philosophy.

In addition, the Morning Movement program, a partnership between the schools and town, has expanded to 64 students, a social-emotional learning program is now in ninth grade, and there are electives available for those students with limited or interrupted formal education.

McIntyre said there has been progress in the Amherst elementary schools, too, where all staff are trained in Welcoming Schools, the dual-language Caminantes program has been extended to fifth grade, and Wildwood, Fort River and Crocker Farm schools are piloting Think SRSD for grades K-2 writing, and Magnetic Reading Foundation for grades K-2 structured literacy.

Attendance strategies are beginning to succeed, she said, though the district is still compiling data on chronic absenteeism.

McIntyre said she will examine discrepancies in dashboard before making a separate presentation on how well students are doing with the standardized testing.

The plans also focus on professional development around inclusionary practices, making sure neurodiverse students are making gains, and adopting high-quality instructional materials. “We know that is a big lever for equity,” McIntyre said.

The plans use the Devereaux Student Strengths Assessment, or DESSAmini-screener, evidence-based around social-emotional learning, which had been used at the elementary schools and is now used at the the regional schools to measure students social-emotional competencies.

“It really is around trying to get ahead of and being proactive to see if there are needs students are having, whether it shows around social awareness or self management, those kinds of things,” McIntyre said.

Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman said there are challenges with funding, “but we’ve been piecemealing the whole thing together to make it work.”

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.