Petersham Center School joins state-funded literacy tutoring initiative

PETERSHAM – The Petersham Center School has been selected to participate in a state-funded initiative that will provide high-dosage literacy tutoring for some elementary students this spring.

The tutoring program, which runs from February through June, is part of an early literacy initiative launched by the Healey-Driscoll administration and offered through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

According to a press release from the administration, the program provides intensive tutoring several times per week at no cost to schools or families. More than 350 schools across the state are participating in the initiative this year.

“It is essential that teachers and schools have the resources necessary to support every young reader,” said Gov. Maura Healey in a statement. “This initiative expands access to intensive early literacy tutoring for students who need it most, helping them build the foundational skills critical for long-term success. In partnership with the Legislature, we are delivering the support schools need to ensure every learner can succeed.” 

Principal Aaron O’Connor said this is the first year Petersham Center School applied for the program after deciding the timing worked better with the school’s schedule.

“The program’s focus is mainly on grade one, which is one of our pivotal literacy years,” O’Connor said.

He explained that students were identified using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills assessment, which measures several foundational reading skills. Students who scored below or well below benchmarks on the screening were eligible for tutoring.

O’Connor said the school applied for tutoring seats for qualifying students in kindergarten through third grade and was ultimately awarded 12 seats through the program.

“We started with first grade and however many students fit their parameters,” he said. “Then I was able to expand it outside of that to fill the rest of the 12 seats.”

Students participating in the program will receive three 30-minute tutoring sessions each week. The sessions will be conducted virtually by trained and certified educators through a provider called Amplify.

“That’s one that I’ve used in the past and am very comfortable with,” O’Connor said.

He said the additional support is intended to help students strengthen foundational reading skills before expectations shift in later elementary grades.

“Second grade is really a transitional year,” O’Conner said. “You kind of move from learning how to read to reading to learn.

“If we can really close some of those decoding and encoding gaps, we set students up for much more success when comprehension becomes more important,” he added.