Meriden’s literacy gains spotlight systems

Seven of Meriden’s eight elementary schools are beating expected reading results after the district spent years standardizing how literacy is taught. (the74million.org) The district serves about 8,600 to 8,700 students in 13 schools, and Meriden officials describe it as Connecticut’s lowest-funded district. About 77% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, about 20% receive special education services, and about 20% are English learners. (powerschool.com; whereweagree.org) The 74 reported on April 14, 2026, that three Meriden schools landed among Connecticut’s top five “Bright Spot” campuses for literacy, a measure that compares school results with what would normally be expected from student demographics. At Casimir Pulaski Elementary, expected reading proficiency was 16.4%, but actual proficiency was nearly 54%, according to the report. (the74million.org) Meriden’s approach was not a single new program. District leaders and teachers built common lesson pacing, closer classroom oversight, shared planning, and coaching that moved from one school to the next over roughly a decade, according to The 74. (the74million.org) That local story is unfolding while Connecticut is pressing districts to align reading instruction with the “science of reading,” the research base behind explicit teaching in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. State officials said in January 2024 that 54.5% of Connecticut third graders were not reading on grade level, or more than 19,500 students. (ctpublic.org) The state’s own accountability data showed English language arts performance had not yet recovered statewide after the pandemic. Connecticut’s English language arts performance index for all students was 67.7 in 2018-19 and 63.9 in 2022-23, according to the Connecticut State Department of Education. (portal.ct.gov) Meriden’s school list shows the district has eight elementary schools, including John Barry, Nathan Hale, Thomas Hooker, Casimir Pulaski, and Roger Sherman. The 74 traced part of the district’s reading push to John Barry, where former principal Dan Crispino helped raise proficiency from 5% to National Blue Ribbon School recognition in 2019 before moving into a district leadership role. (meridenk12.org; the74million.org) Meriden had already spent years building districtwide systems outside literacy, including shared student-data tools and school schedule changes. PowerSchool said the district has used a single student information system since 2006, and a 2024 case study said Meriden began experimenting with expanded learning time at Pulaski in fall 2013. (powerschool.com; whereweagree.org) Connecticut’s reading push has also drawn resistance from some superintendents, especially over state mandates and waiver denials under the Right to Read law. Meriden’s results give state officials a district example built around consistency across classrooms rather than one-off fixes. (ctpublic.org; the74million.org) In Meriden, the argument is now visible in school-by-school reading numbers: the district kept the work going long enough for repeated early gains to spread from one building to most of the elementary system. (the74million.org)