AGAWAM — Two Agawam elementary schools — Sapelli and Granger — were among more than 50 schools in the state receiving special recognition in September from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as part of its annual accountability reporting process.
The schools were identified as a 2026 “School of Recognition” for significant growth and academic achievement. Principals from the two schools — Stephanie Harris, Sapelli, Alyse Roy, Granger and Stephanie Gendron, principal at Granger until June 2026 and now principal at Phelps Elementary School — came to the School Committee’s Oct. 13 meeting to share what teachers, staff and students did to earn the special designation.
Harris, Sapelli’s principal since 2021, said DESE assigns annual accountability targets or benchmarks to measure school and district performance. “We have them to see how well we’re serving all our students collectively and also in individual subgroups. The goal is to help us close our achievement gaps and ensure that every student/child succeeds.”
She said one of the areas DESE tracks is how students do at MCAS reading and math. They look at the growth between the change in MCAS over one year. DESE wants to see how third graders then do in fourth grade. They’re looking at English language proficiency — how well students are progressing in English, specific to listening, speaking, reading and writing.
DESE also looks at how many students are chronically absent from school. Chronically absent is 10% or more absences in a school year — excused or unexcused.
This is the second time in two years that Sapelli has been honored for academic progress and continuous growth. It was first named a School of Recognition in September 2024.
In the 2024-25 school year, DESE upped targets for the school after being named a School of Recognition. During that time, the school’s English Language Learners (ELLs) subgroup didn’t score any points for its accountability targets for achievement on MCAS, but scored three out of four points for English language arts. There were no points for chronic absenteeism — meaning students in this subgroup were struggling to come to school.
For 2025-26, the ELL subgroup hit 99% of their targets — they met or exceeded nearly every one of DESE’s expectations for progress with regards to achievement, language proficiency and chronic absenteeism.
“We got those kiddos to school. We got them learning. We got them learning English, and they had made huge, huge gains. I’m really proud of that group,” said Harris.
“We’re not miracle workers, and we’re not in the job of immediate results. We’re in the job of progress, not perfection. If we wanted immediate results, we’d be hairdressers. Here, we work on the long term. We set goals, and I believe that our school reflects a culture of high expectations, intentional support and shared responsibility for every single student at our school,” she added.
“Our families are happy at Sapelli, they feel safe at Sapelli and students want to come to school,” said Harris. “Relationships are the heart of everything we do. Coupled with patience and persistence, and understanding that this work takes time, we were able to get there, and we will continue to get there.”
Roy, who succeeded Gendron as Granger’s principal, said she’s proud to share Granger’s recognition and the progress behind it. “That honor belongs to our students, our educators, the staff, the families and the leadership that guide this work before I arrived,” she said.
As Granger’s new principal, Roy said her responsibility is to understand the foundation left before her, protect what’s working and to help build upon it moving forward.
During the 2024-25 school year, the low-income accountability number was 78% and then if went to 88% the following year — a 10% growth. In the high needs category (overlapping groups that include low income, ELLs and students with disabilities) it was 78% for 2024-25. In the 2025-26 school year, it jumped to 97%.
“This does encourage the equity work that we have been doing as a district. This progress is reaching students in groups that include additional learning and economic needs, so that is something to highlight,” said Roy. “It does not establish that every student is on grade level or that gaps have been closed, but we’ll use individual student evidence to determine who needs more of that support.”
For the 2025-26 school year, Gendron explained that in achievement, Granger earned seven out of eight total points, three out of four in ELA, and all four points in mathematics. In terms of growth, it was three out of four points in ELA and all four points in mathematics, while chronic absenteeism went from zero to four points.
“We’re really proud,” said Gendron, the school’s principal for 20 years. “We worked really hard on attendance. We had regular family, administrator, teacher meetings and calls. The attendance and truancy coordinator also was involved.”
Another key strategy, said Gendron, was proactive teacher outreach. “I was looking at numbers every single month and asking teachers to proactively reach out to families and let them know that the student hasn’t been in school. Sometimes when parents hear it from a teacher, they tend to respond a little bit different than when they hear it from me. Having teachers reach out and be proactive was really a key.”
Gendron said she always emphasized to staff that MCAS scores belong to everybody. “I don’t care if you’re a kindergarten teacher, a speech and language pathologist, an occupational therapist; these scores belong to everybody No matter what you’re doing, you’re somehow contributing to the progress of that child.”
There also was a school-wide writing focus. “One of the things that we had noticed over the years, was that our students struggled with writing, and we weren’t getting the results that we really wanted with the writing,” said Gendron.
Idea development and writing conventions were emphasized. Granger staff constantly looked at writing data to see how they could help students to improve.
Student typing and expression skills also were strengthened to make sure once they got to the MCAS that writing wasn’t a barrier for them.
While all strategies contributed to student success at Granger, Gendron said that success belongs to teachers. “They were the ones in the classrooms. They’re the ones on the frontlines. They’re the ones delivering instruction, and they’re a great team. And I know that they’re going to continue to do great things this year. And I’m sure you’re going to see them back here again.”
