I am pleased to share with you our annual report for the 2013-2014 school year. In our second year of operation we expanded our program to serve 162 scholars in grades five and six. Additionally, we hired 15 teachers to join our team and began the hard work of developing them into extraordinary teachers who drive dramatic gains in student achievement.
Research has shown that the quality of a child’s classroom teacher is the biggest predictor of a child’s academic success. We agree! Veritas Prep scholars’ results on the 2014 MCAS tests prove that great teaching can change the trajectory of a child’s life and put them back on a path to academic success. With two consecutive years of quality curriculum and instruction at Veritas Prep, more than 70% of our scholars are scoring proficient or advanced in all subjects. The vast majority of these children came to us several grade levels behind.
As we move forward in our third year of operation, now serving 243 scholars across three grade levels, we continue to tackle our biggest challenge: finding and developing talented teachers with the will to do what it takes to put our scholars on a path to college. This year, we will begin growing teachers as leaders to build more organizational capacity around teacher development. We will continue to keep teacher recruitment and retention as a top priority so that we can continue to defy the odds and prove what is possible when talented people join together around a critical mission.
Thank you for your support and interest in Veritas Prep. With your help, we know we can help transform public education in the city of Springfield.
Sincerely,
Rachel Romano Executive Director