Kingston Targets Academic Gaps with Sweeping Data, Co-Teaching Success, and New ELA Curriculum

KINGSTON - June 1, 2026 - The Kingston School Committee solidified its leadership structure and reviewed critical end-of-year academic benchmarks showing strong post-pandemic recovery, highlighted by a breakthrough first-grade co-teaching model that left zero students requiring intensive reading intervention. District administrators also announced the formal selection of McGraw-Hill Wonders as the town’s new elementary English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum, fully funded by a state PRISM grant ahead of a June 30 fiscal deadline.

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The meeting opened with the completion of the School Committee’s annual reorganization led by Chair Megan Cannon. By unanimous votes, the committee elected Jesse A. Keith as Vice Chairperson and Sheila Vaughn as Secretary. Committee members were also meticulously distributed across regional boards and local subcommittees, filling critical vacancies on policy, technology, and health and safety teams to align with incoming member Jennifer Krowchun’s arrival. Following a brief executive session to handle personnel and collective bargaining strategy, the board shifted entirely into operational performance, launching its comprehensive year-end reporting cycle.

The cornerstone of the evening was a data-driven presentation tracing a three-year upward trajectory across early literacy and mathematics. Reporting fresh data from spring benchmarks concluded just days prior, administrators revealed that Kingston’s foundational reading metrics—tracking phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and decoding for grades K through 3 via DIBELS—climbed steadily from a 66% baseline in the fall to finish at 79%. While kindergarten through second-grade cohorts surged to an 83% proficiency rate, outpacing the district’s 80% goal, third-grade scores lagged slightly at 72%. To address this specific gap, officials outlined an immediate summer action plan to train third-grade educators in “Classroom OG” (Orton-Gillingham) phonics interventions.

“We started co-teaching like five years ago at KES, and for the first time since starting co-teaching, we had our first co-taught first grade classroom end the year with no students needing intensive support. Nobody in red on DIBELS.” — 00:25:35 Kingston Elementary Principal Jake Galewski