I am pleased to share with you our annual report for the 2016-17 school year. In our fifth year of operation we graduated our second class, the Veritas Prep Class of 2017 and the college class of 2025. 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 towards college. The class of 2017 had higher average scaled scores and higher median Student Growth Percentile than all other 8th grade classes in Springfield, Holyoke and nearby charters. The vast majority of these children came to us several grade levels behind. These young scholars are proof that quality education can change the trajectory of a child’s life and put them on a path to academic and career success.
At Veritas Prep we hold every scholar to high expectations and push them to reach their fullest potential. We strive to be a proof point for Springfield and to reset the bar for all Springfield students. Veritas Prep ranked second in the Commonwealth last year for Math student growth percentiles (SGP) and fifth for English Language Arts. The growth percentiles are important because they don’t just show our students’ absolute performance, but rather how much they’ve learned in comparison to their academic peers across the state. This shows the value we added for our scholars in just one year. The overall percent of Veritas scholars scoring “proficient or above” in all three subjects was higher than the statewide averages across grades 5-8.
These results show the power of one team with a common mission, they are a testament to the hard work of our team; teachers, staff, our scholars and their families. We are all committed to and succeeding at achieving our mission to prepare our scholars to compete, achieve, and succeed in high school, college and beyond. 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. We will keep pushing ourselves to prove what is possible for Springfield scholars as we continue to defy the odds and prove what is possible when talented people join together around a critical mission.
We couldn’t do this work without your support! With your help, we will continue to transform public education in the city of Springfield.
Sincerely,
Rachel Romano Executive Director