Assistant Superintendent for Instruction and School Improvement Tina Sandstrom, and Coordinator of Literacy Dr. Jennifer Aaron gave a mid-year literacy update Tuesday to the Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education.

JPS, in 2023, adopted HMH Into Reading (K-6) and Into Literature (7-8), a theme-based spiralling curriculum.

In September 2025, Sandstrom told board members that the district was continuing with three focus strategies: data – which continues deepening the district’s understanding of data and connecting to resources within the curriculum while working with building leaders to monitor achievement and growth; targeted instruction – which supports teachers with small group planning and instruction while creating individualized learning based on data; and instructional collaboration – which addresses individual educator needs, and fostering professional growth while enhancing student outcomes through improved instructional practices.

In her mid-year update, Sandstrom said with the first focus strategy all building principals looked at data.

The Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education approved the sale of a parcel of school property located at 240 Harrison St., to the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities for $73,800. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

“Right after February break, we dove into that data with all of the principals,” Sandstrom said. “We met individually with them to take a look at their building data and use some of these strategies, and kind of go back and forth to see how those were applied and what our next action steps were. So we not only looked at data from the teacher perspective, but we also looked at it from the leadership perspective, when we’re leading our schools through improvements.”

With the second strategy, Sandstrom noted that Read 180, a reading intervention program, was begun with third- and fourth-grade students.

Sandstrom said with the third strategy, coaches from HMH have been in buildings throughout the year.

“I think almost every week they (HMH coaches) are in some place in our district working with grade levels and schools. Our district instructional coaches we have had to support at the building level, grade level and classroom level. So we have instructional coaches in classrooms all the time,” Sandstrom said.

According to jpsny.org, in K through second grade, the focus in the early grades is on phonemic awareness, the ability to manipulate sounds without print, and phonics, making the connection between sound and print. In third- through sixth-grades, while phonics and oral language are still addressed, the primary focus is learning comprehension strategies to tackle increasingly difficult texts. In 7-8, Into Literature builds on what students have learned in K-6 Into Reading.

Aaron noted that the district is focusing on growth, and in June 2025, the district ended the school year at 54 percent in growth, and currently the district is at 52 percent in growth. Aaron said growth shows the trends that students are demonstrating positive movement.

“So our hope, and if we project this out, it should be that we continue to make this progress and exceed our growth and achievement from last year,” Aaron said.

Sandstrom said the district will continue to focus on instructional collaboration, interpreting data, and targeted instruction; looking at data to inform lesson planning; having instructional coaches work with grade level and individual classroom teachers; and continue with Read 180 interventions in grades three through eight.

“Read 180 is targeted for students who are a year to a year and a half behind (in reading skills),” Aaron said.

Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said collaboration is essential in the district when teaching the K-8 ELA curriculum.

“We’re really happy to see that our new curriculum that was selected by our teachers a few years ago is paying dividends in terms of growth and achievement,” Whitaker said. “Thus far, to be at the midpoint where we ended up last year is a really good sign of our level of growth.”

The board also approved the sale of a parcel of school property located at 240 Harrison St., to the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities for $73,800. According to the resolution, JPS has determined that the property is no longer needed for school district purposes, and has no present or foreseeable use or value to the district.

District residents will vote on the measure on May 19.

Whitaker said the money will go into the district’s general fund for the purpose of building improvements and physical plant improvements.