jackiedoherty.org

Working on our campaign handout, Jackie and I spent several hours at her kitchen counter this afternoon, trying to state succinctly (in ten words or less) the evidence that Lowell schools are making significant progress.  At one point, I was ready to give up; it was too much to try to state the action that the school district had undertaken as well as the result achieved all in one short sentence.  Well, Jackie is nothing if not persistent, so check out these stats:

•  MCAS scores improve an average of 10%—double that of the state
•  Grade 3-8 reading interventions move 44% out of at-risk category
•  Math focus leads to 14% more sixth-graders meeting state standards
•  Flexible grouping challenges middle-school students to excel in algebra
•  English language learners exceed state average on proficiency test
•  Timeline for identifying special needs children improves by 25%
•  Freshmen absenteeism drops by 18%; course passing rate up by 14%

Some people say that it doesn’t matter what you write on a political piece, that no one reads them anyway. I hope that isn’t true, but if you should happen to see our handout (with distinctive purple touches, of course), you’ll know what a lot of work went into it!