Malden School Committee members heard on April 7 that, while districtwide reading scores are roughly stable year-to-year, many students who start K–3 behind in foundational phonics skills are not catching up without additional, targeted support.

Assistant Superintendent Bassin presented the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) progress report the district submitted on April 1 and told the committee the district will require a dedicated literacy intervention block for grades K–8 beginning in 2025–26. "The headline is that when our students come in with grade level phonics skills, they make a ton of progress in our program," Bassin said, adding that students who start well below benchmark are the group most often left behind.

The report combines adaptive-assessment data (i-Ready) and DIBELS foundational-reading measures. Bassin highlighted three points: districtwide ELA proficiency is largely unchanged from last year; students who enter with grade-level phonics make strong midyear progress; and students who start below or well below grade-level phonics are making far less midyear progress. "Only 10 percent of students who started the year well below benchmark made sufficient progress by midyear," Bassin said, and she emphasized that 92 percent of students in that "well below" group are students with disabilities, English learners, or students identified for other supports.

To address that pattern, Bassin said each K–8 school will build school-improvement plans that include professional learning and coaching to help teachers adapt high-quality core materials for diverse learners. Operational changes planned for next year include creating a dedicated literacy intervention block (separating a roughly 30-minute intervention time into its own scheduled block so students can be regrouped by skill level) and adjusting scheduling so students do not miss core instruction when pulled for services such as English‑learner support, speech or occupational therapy. "We will do so through a dedicated literacy intervention block for below grade level foundational skills, strategic scheduling around the needs of our ELs and students with disabilities, and responding to our educators' request for more training on supporting our students with lagging phonic skills," Bassin said.

Superintendent (name not specified) also told the committee the district will roll out ParentSquare, a district‑wide communications platform that will sync with Aspen and offer automatic translation. "ParentSquare is an online platform that our district will be using to support district communications with families," the superintendent said, describing training for early adopters this spring and family rollout in May so messages can be sent before the fall semester.

Committee members asked for clearer explanations and for plans that parents can understand. "Dedicated literacy time — how, as a layperson, how am I, as a parent, also gonna understand what that means, what that looks like?" asked Member Hordy during the meeting. Bassin and other leaders outlined an example: a 90‑minute grade‑level block with an added, scheduled intervention period so students can be regrouped across classes by need rather than handled piecemeal within a single classroom.

Bassin and committee members also noted related work on staffing and scheduling. The district reported about 30 percent of students are multilingual learners and that roughly 15 percent of students enroll after Oct. 1; both facts affect year‑to‑year comparisons. Bassin said building and retaining specialized staff for ESL and special education roles is a priority, and principals will include staffing and scheduling targets in their plans.

DESE has not yet issued formal feedback on Malden’s submission; Bassin said the district used DESE office hours prior to the April 1 deadline and received "positive feedback." Next steps for the committee include reviewing school improvement plans later this spring and monitoring implementation of the literacy intervention block and the ParentSquare rollout before the 2025–26 school year.

Votes at a glance: the committee also approved several routine and personnel items during the April 7 meeting. Listed here are motions recorded on the public record and their outcomes.

- Approval of regular session minutes of March 3, 2025: Motion to approve by Mr. Drummy, seconded by Mr. Bernard; roll‑call vote carried unanimously.

- Out‑of‑state field trips to Canopy Lake Park (all five K–8 schools, dates and student counts in supporting documents): Motion by Mr. Drummy, seconded by Mr. Bernard to approve; roll‑call vote carried unanimously.

- School choice participation for FY26 (Massachusetts General Laws ch. 76, §12B): By custom the committee votes whether to accept incoming school‑choice students. Motion and second (motion language and mover recorded on the floor); clerk announced that a "yes" vote would accept school‑choice students and a "no" vote would decline. The committee voted "No" by roll call (all members voting "No"), carrying unanimously; Malden will not participate in school choice for FY26.

- Assistant Superintendent / Director of Student Services contract (term 07/01/2025–06/30/2028): Motion to approve seconded by Mr. Drummy; clerk called the roll and the motion carried unanimously. The committee noted this action had been approved in executive session at the prior meeting and was reported and ratified on the public floor.

Committee members said they will continue follow‑up on literacy scheduling, staffing for special education and EL services, DESE feedback on the progress report, and family training for ParentSquare.

Ending: The committee scheduled further public review as principals finalize school‑improvement plans later this spring and said it will monitor whether the scheduled literacy intervention block and staffing changes produce expected year‑over‑year gains in foundational reading skills.