Letter: Incomplete Picture from Greylock School Committee

To the Editor:

At the October Mount Greylock School Committee meeting, there was much celebration over the student growth percentiles (SGP) from last year's MCAS test data (Spring 2026). Growth is worth celebrating. But I worry the meeting, and the coverage of it, left families and our community with an incomplete picture of how our students are doing in math.

"Growth" sounds like it means scores went up, but that isn’t quite what SGP measures. SGP compares each student to students in the state who scored about the same the year before, then ranks how they did this year against that group. If a whole group of similar students decreases, the student who decreases the least can still earn a high growth percentile. A strong SGP tells us our students did better than their peers who scored similarly the year before. It doesn't tell us whether they are at grade level.

For example, the current 6th grade class at Williamstown Elementary School (WES) has decreased in their grade-level math proficiency every year since their 3rd grade MCAS. In 2024, 64 percent of the class was meeting expectations; in 2025 48 percent were at grade level, and in 2026 only 33 percent of their class met grade-level expectations. Our current WES 5th grade class follows a similar trend, with 48 percent meeting grade-level math expectations last year vs 56 percent meeting expectations in 2025 when they were in 3rd grade.

Not every class follows this pattern; our current 7th graders gained to 62 percent last year. But seeing entire classes decrease is something that deserves our attention.

Growth comparisons across the state provide useful information, but they do not tell the complete story. We also need to look at where our students are in terms of grade-level proficiency and how those numbers are changing from year to year within the Mt. Greylock school district. This will be our first year with the math interventionist role filled at WES and our second year with the new i-Ready curriculum.

As we watch whether these changes are working, I hope the School Committee will discuss proficiency alongside growth in its public meetings, so our community can see the full picture. Growth matters, but it isn’t enough if fewer of our kids are reaching grade level each year.

Sincerely,

Jenna Hasenkampf
Williamstown, Mass.

Hasenkampf is a parent of WES students in Grades 2 and 4.

Reminder to Lanesborough, Williamstown Voters: Mount Greylock School Committee a 'Write-In' Election

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
10:03AM / Friday, October 30, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Politicians and pundits in recent years have been preaching patience when it comes to getting election night results.

 

That usually means places like California, where vote-counting can be complicated or Michigan, where razor thin margins are anticipated.

 

Add Williamstown and Lanesborough to that list.

 

It is not a matter of pre-election polling suggesting particularly tight races; there is no such polling. Rather, it is a question of how voters will be making their selections in the race for the Mount Greylock Regional School District Committee.

 

None of the six candidates who qualified for four seats up for grabs on the panel appear on the ballots that have been mailed out, used in early voting or will be distributed at the polls on Nov. 3.

 

That means that all votes will be cast as write-ins, and that means it will take significantly longer for election workers to tally up votes in the local election once the polls close at 8 p.m. at Lanesborough Town Hall and Williamstown Elementary School.

 

As always, voters in both towns vote for all four seats on the ballot: two seats for Lanesborough residents and two for Williamstown residents in this year’s balloting.