Norwell details early literacy support system

Norwell school officials provided an update on the district’s Norwell Tiered Systems of Support (NTSS) during the March 9 School Committee meeting, outlining how the district identifies students who may need additional academic or social-emotional help.

The three level NTSS program is designed to identify students who may be struggling early in reading, math, or social-emotional development and provide targeted support before gaps widen. It is universal, meaning the Commonwealth requires all students from kindergarten through third grade to participate in screenings.

Director of Teaching and Learning Meredith Erickson explained, “The idea behind NTSS is that we don’t wait for issues to arise, but we take a proactive approach to try to prevent skill gaps,” Erickson said. “All students are capable of doing grade-level learning with the proper support.”

The system operates in three tiers, starting with universal screening at Tier 1. Students who are the most risk of falling behind stepping up to Tier 3, with more comprehensive support from specialists.

Tier 1 includes core instruction provided to all students in the classroom, with most students expected to succeed through standard curriculum and teaching practices.

Tier 2 provides small-group targeted support from classroom teachers for students identified through screening data as needing additional help.

Tier 3 offers more intensive intervention with specialists, often in smaller groups or individual sessions, for students identified as being at the highest risk of falling behind. Students are assessed three times a year.

The district shared data with the committee from the current school year showing relatively small numbers of students requiring the most intensive level of support.

About 5 percent of kindergarten and first grade students currently receive Tier 3 reading support, along with about 10 percent of second grade students and roughly 3 percent of students in grades three through five.

Program Affected by Failed Override

Committee members asked how the district’s support system has been affected by the loss of two literacy specialist positions after a town override failed last year.

Reading specialists said students identified as needing the most support are still receiving services, but staffing reductions have affected scheduling and group sizes.

“Every student who comes up as high risk receives an intervention,” reading specialist Courtney Carpenito said. “We’ve not had to scale back or change our parameters for who qualifies, but we have had to get a little creative with scheduling and group sizing.”

Officials said the district has also placed increased emphasis on strengthening classroom instruction, which they said can reduce the number of students needing more intensive intervention.

“We have approached for many years a real targeted approach within the classroom that allows our numbers for Tier 3 to be manageable,” Erickson said.

The NTSS framework is also tied to the district’s Student Opportunity Act plan, which focuses on improving early literacy outcomes and narrowing achievement gaps among student groups.

District officials said they will continue tracking student data and report progress to the School Committee as the program develops.

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