In our fourth year of operation, the 2015-2016 school year, we reached our capacity serving more than 300 scholars in grades 5-8 and we graduated our inaugural class, the college class of 2024. These scholars made staggering gains in their time at Veritas Prep and we sent them off fully prepared for the rigor and expectations of high school as they charge on toward college. Our first graduates leave a legacy of hard work and achievement which sets the bar high for each class that follows.
At Veritas Prep, we strive to be a proof point for Springfield and to reset the bar for all Springfield students. To that end, we opted to take the state assessments online last year because we want ourselves and our scholars to begin preparing for what will soon become the norm. We learned a lot from the experience of administering an online assessment across the school and are learning a lot from the performance of our scholars. The “technology enhanced items” were technically challenging for our scholars, but they also demanded our scholars to think and show their understanding in unique ways. We will use all of this data to inform programmatic changes that will keep us ahead of the curve and our scholars competitive with their peers. As we compare the performance of our scholars to their peers in the district, it’s worth noting that while the standards assessed were the same, the test was different as there was no other Springfield school that took the assessment online.
As this report illustrates, our scholars are outperforming their peers by a wide margin and firmly on a path to college. The vast majority of these children came to us several grade levels behind. We are so proud to be realizing our mission and we remain driven to put every scholar we serve on a path to college and future success.
Thank you for your support and interest in Veritas Prep. With your help, we will continue to transform public education in the city of Springfield.
Sincerely,
Rachel Romano Executive Director