October 2015

The 2015-2016 school year is off and running! The Medfield Public Schools opened it's doors to 2688 students this year. This blog entry highlights our recent rankings in Newsweek and Boston Magazine, as well as our district initiatives for 2015-2016. Thank you for your support of our schools.

Please follow me on Twitter @jeffreyjmarsden for weekly updates.

Recent Magazine Articles Have Medfield Climbing In The Rankings

Over the past two months major rankings have been released highlighting the top school districts and high schools in Massachusetts and across the United States. After being unranked (not in the top 500) in 2012, ranked #262 in 2013, ranked #164 in 2014, we are proud that Newsweek  has ranked Medfield High School # 52 in the United States and #2 in Massachusetts. Medfield High School continues to provide our students with a rigorous educational experience by building on the solid foundation from our middle and elementary schools.  Locally, the school district was ranked 11th in Massachusetts by Boston Magazine after being ranked 37th in 2013. This ranking represents student achievement improvements made across the district; especially at the elementary and middle school levels.

 Many factors go into these rankings, but clearly these upward trajectories represent the hard work, focus, and dedication of our students, teachers, administrators, parents and community members. Medfield is truly a special community where everyone works together for student success. Even though we are pleased with the way our schools are trending, our teachers and administrators remain committed to continuous improvement for the benefit of our students. 

District Initiatives For 2015-2016

The Medfield School Committee has voted the following goals for the 2015-2016 school year:

• Develop and complete a 3-5 year PreK-12 strategic plan -We have partnered with the New England School Development Council (NESDEC) to develop a strategic plan for the district. We hope that you will be able to participate in one of  our focus groups in November. Look for information in a future "Thursday Packet".
• Bring forward a recommendation to align the elementary school starting and ending times and/or extend the school day -The Elementary School Day Committee has been hard at work looking at ways to improve the structure of our elementary school schedules. We plan to make a recommendation in the next few months.
• Implement Envision 2.0 Mathematics in grades K-5- This comprehensive math program is aligned with the Massachusetts Mathematics Frameworks and will bring consistency to math instruction among classrooms and buildings. The district will hold a math night for parents in the next several weeks. Please watch for that announcement.
• Expand and refine our technology and 1 to 1 learning- At the beginning of the year every senior at MHS received a Chromebook computer. This expands our 1 to 1 from Grades 6-12. We have also deployed Chromebooks and iPads throughout our elementary schools. We will continue to gather feedback as we assess the 1 to 1 learning in Grades 6-12.
• Establish a World Language Steering/Study group-This group will be comprised of teachers, parents and administrators as we review the World Language program in our elementary schools. Please email FKelly@email.medfield.net if you are interested in serving on this committee. We plan to start meeting in December or January.
• Complete district/ town wide field study- We have partnered with Pare Corporation to study the condition and adequacy of our school and town fields. Pare will issue a report to us with recommendations for field replacement or construction. 
• Implement Educator Evaluation Standards III and IV-We will be implementing the last two standards involved in the new evaluation model. These standards are  Family and Community Engagement and Professional Culture.
• Utilize Metro West Health Survey data to support Social/Emotional Learning- The district will continue to use data to help our students' wellness. We plan to post the most recent survey data on our website.
• Submit a Statement of Interest (SOI) for a new Dale St School-We will take the first step in the process of a replacement for the Dale St. School. Acceptance of the SOI will get us on the long list of potential school projects in Massachusetts. 
• Complete Wheelock Boiler Project-This project is going out to bid in January and is scheduled to begin as soon as the students leave in June. Medfield will receive $187,000 in reimbursements for this project.

Some of these items will be multi year initiatives and will become part of our strategic plan. There will be periodic status reports made to the School Committee during the 2015-2016 school year.

Did You Know?

• The Class of 2016 has 7 Commended Scholars in the National Merit Scholarship Program
• Over 100 teachers spent time during the summer working on research and development projects to improve the teaching and learning in Medfield.
• Blake Principal Nat Vaughn was selected as one of nine school leaders in Metro West to participate in a "Blended Learning Summit" at North Carolina State.
• Our turf field (Calvin Fisher Field) had a useful life at installation of 10 years. This is the 12th season of use!
• In only it's second year, our Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) has 149 students enrolled.
• Teachers Julie Lowerre, Randie Groden, Neal Sonnenberg, and Diane Horvath will be leading technology workshops at the MassCUE Conference at Gillette Stadium on October 21st and 22nd.