WORCESTER—The Worcester school system is making solid strides in preparing students for college and career, Superintendent Rachel H. Monárrez and her spokespersons told the school committee on Thursday.
A report, called “From Here, Anywhere, Together: Curriculum & Instruction: Access to College & Career,” offered by the superintendent, Chris Kursonis, Dan St. Louis, Emily Lehman Miller and Julieanne Gamache focused on curriculum and instruction with a high-priority aim of enhancing and providing equitable and consisting learning experiences to ready scholars for lifelong success.
Utilizing slides, Monárrez’s team noted that the Office of College & Career offers 16 programs, one of which—AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination—has been in place for a while. More than 1,300 students are involved in the program at the present time.
More than 1,700 are taking part in advanced placement/early college.
“Next steps” in moving forward include building critical thinking, strengthening foundational skills and ensuring that students are exposed to rigorous coursework.
In summation, the superintendent said she was very excited to see “where we’ve been and where we’re going. AVID is close to my heart,” she said.
She said that officials of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce told her during a meeting this past summer that they were pleased with the acceleration that is occurring towards improving college and career pathways for students.
Member Maureen Binienda asked how the AVID program is being run right now, whether it is still affiliated with a national model, what kind of training is being employed and how the program is funded.
Responding satisfactorily to each of these queries, Elizabeth Ward said she took the place of two people—the previous curriculum specialist and AVID liaison—and is striving to keep “the CCR” program functioning at peak efficiency.
Member Susan Mailman made two motions. Her first was a request for more data on which colleges are involved in the programs. The second was for additional information about enrollment at Worcester Tech, which she noted was at 374, “when we had 380.” She wondered why Worcester Tech was not at capacity. She was told by Gamache that “there are a lot of pieces to that puzzle.”
Member Molly McCullough said she was “happy to see continued growth” in college and career. McCullough asked for more data on AVID program tutors.
Earlier in the meeting a representative of the Student Advisory Council made four requests. For an online signup for all students wanting to use bathrooms, to standardize this from school to school; for more environmentally friendly policies that students can then put into action themselves; for bettered mental health resources, like wellness rooms; and for every student, not just members of the Student Advisory Council, to be able to have input around policy.
Binienda led recognition of “two amazing professionals,” Carmen Melendez and Hope Oliveras, whose work, especially in the area of bilingual and multilingual, has earned them state lifetime service awards. They were presented with certificates by Jermaine Johnson, sitting in for Mayor Joseph Petty as chair of the meeting.
Rod Lee is a career journalist, a veteran of the media scene in Central Massachusetts and the author of seven books including the recently published “Gil Cristopher,” a novel about the difficulties associated with aging. He can be contacted at rodlee1963@gmail.com
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