Brent Conway

Brent Conway is Assistant Superintendent for the Pentucket Regional School District in West Newbury, MA, a position he’s held since 2018. Passionate about improving literacy outcomes for ALL students, Brent has considerable experience leading school turnaround, including as principal of an elementary school on the verge of state takeover which, during his tenure, received recognition for three years in a row as a MA Commendation School and won a National Blue Ribbon School award from the U.S. Department of Education for closing achievement gaps.

Brent currently serves on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Literacy Champions advisory group, charged with developing the state’s Early Literacy Guidance Plan. He has contributed to the development of guidelines for schools and districts in implementing the Massachusetts Dyslexia Law and is a founding member of the Northshore Literacy Leaders group which has brought in speakers such as Emily Hanford to help build professional knowledge and dialogue around the science of reading and evidence-based practices. Brent recently spoke to the MA Board of Education on the state’s work with early literacy and serves on the MA Reading Association’s Professional Development Committee. He regularly speaks at professional conferences on the need for professional development on literacy and tiered literacy systems, among other topics.

Brent on Twitter at @pentucketteach.

Pentucket’s Curriculum Journey

Pentucket Regional School District began transforming literacy instruction with the adoption, for grades K-2, of Fundations: Wilson Language Training in 2017 and Heggerty in 2019.  In 2021, they are building on that foundation with the addition of Wit & Wisdom in grades K-6. They also adopted a new math curriculum, Eureka Math from Great Minds, for grades K-8 in 2018 and EnVision in grades 9-10 in 2020. Learn more about their math journey. They have partnered with a variety of professional learning experts to supplement internal expertise on the theory and practice teachers need for effective implementation. These include Keys to Literacy and the Massachusetts Department of Education for the  MASS Literacy initiative and Early Grades Literacy work.