NASHUA – The New Hampshire Department of Education identifies six Nashua elementary schools in need of extra support to help students succeed.

The identified schools include Ledge Street Elementary School, Amherst Street Elementary School, Birch Hill Elementary School, Broad Street Elementary School, Main Dunstable Elementary School and Mount Pleasant Elementary School.

Ledge Street Elementary School, Amherst Street Elementary School and Mount Pleasant Elementary Schools are recognized as Title I schools in need of help. According to the U.S. Department of Education, a Title 1 school is one “enrolling at least 40 percent of children from low-income families.”

According to the Nashua School District website, Title I funds are used in eligible schools to provide in-school reading and math support, preschool experiences, and educational supplies and materials.

Ledge Street Elementary School was the first school to be identified by the department as a school in need of support.

During the Board of Education’s meeting on Nov. 13, Superintendent Jahmal Mosley addressed the board about a letter he had received from the New Hampshire DOE regarding the school’s results on their state testing.

Schools that are identified will fall into the following three categories: Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools, Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) schools and Additional Targeted Support (ATS) schools.

CSI Schools

Ledge Street Elementary School has been identified as a CSI school. There are two ways for a school to be identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI):

 The school is among the lowest performing five percent of Title I schools in New Hampshire, or

 a high school has a four-year graduation rate of 67 percent or less.

Regarding Ledge Street’s identification as a CSI school, Mosley told board members, “This is an opportunity for us to do some self-reflection on how we can better serve kids at one of our neediest schools,” Mosley told board members.

“It’s an opportunity to improve and make some changes, and we’re going to move forward with that,” Mosley said.

Now that the school has been identified, school officials are working to move forward. Mosley and his team attended a meeting with the DOE to learn the steps in moving forward.

A diagnostic review began this month to assess “domains of leadership, talent development, instructional transformation, and school culture,” according the letter sent to Mosley from the NH DOE.

Assistant Superintendent Garth McKinney said the school will be eligible to receive about $15,000 in grants once the diagnostic review is complete, but first they must develop school plans and review where the needs are.

Schools are reviewed under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), an act signed by President Obama in 2015.

According to the NH DOE, with the help and resources provided, school officials are working to make sure they do not remain on the list and improve their performances.

ATS Schools

Schools that are identified as ATS schools are different in terms of CSI schools because they are identified if any of their subgroups perform at or below the lowest performing five percent of the school. The NH DOE states that for each indicator, every considered subgroup receives an overall level ranging from 1-4 based on their student performance. Schools will be identified as ATS if any of their subgroups perform at or below the lowest performing 5 percent of the school.

According to DOE standards, subgroups are considered if there are 11 or more students with a score on an indicator for a given school. Subgroups are made up based on the following: economically disadvantaged, racial/ ethnic, students with disabilities and English language learners. If under 11 students in a subgroup are enrolled, that particular indicator would not be considered.

Moving forward, officials from the school district will have the opportunity to participate in regional and statewide trainings that focus on improving subgroup performances.

These trainings will begin in the winter of 2019. The NH DOE states it will annually examine ATS schools to determine if progress is being made.

For now, school officials in the six schools identified will be working in collaboration with the NH DOE and others to move forward.

Grace Pecci can be reached at 594-1243, or at gpecci@nashuatelegraph.com.