Clark Art, Tanglewood Host Pulitzer Prize-Winning Art Critic

03:00PM / Friday, August 08, 2025Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Presented in partnership with the Tanglewood Learning Institute and Tanglewood Music Center, the Clark Art Institute hosts an evening celebrating French music and art of the late nineteenth century with Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee on Tuesday, Aug. 12 at 7 pm.

A limited number of tickets are still available for this event, which takes place in the Clark's auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center.

Fellows from the Tanglewood Music Center will present a performance of chamber music featuring Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15 along with Ed Gazouleas, Director of the Tanglewood Music Center, who will introduce selected excerpts from the piece highlighting key musical ideas and themes. Following their performance, The Washington Post's Sebastian Smee explores the art and artists who were so central to this period, notably many of the French artists whose works are at the heart of the Clark's collection.

The Clark's permanent collection galleries are open from 5:30 pm to 7 pm, so that audience members can see the works that Smee will discuss with their own eyes—works that Fauré may have seen too.

Tickets $10 ($8 members, $7 students, $5 children 15 and under). Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524.

For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.

Tags: Clark Art,

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Letter: Incomplete Picture from Greylock School Committee

Letter to the Editor06:30PM / Wednesday, October 28, 2026

To the Editor:

At the October Mount Greylock School Committee meeting, there was much celebration over the student growth percentiles (SGP) from last year's MCAS test data (Spring 2026). Growth is worth celebrating. But I worry the meeting, and the coverage of it, left families and our community with an incomplete picture of how our students are doing in math.

"Growth" sounds like it means scores went up, but that isn’t quite what SGP measures. SGP compares each student to students in the state who scored about the same the year before, then ranks how they did this year against that group. If a whole group of similar students decreases, the student who decreases the least can still earn a high growth percentile. A strong SGP tells us our students did better than their peers who scored similarly the year before. It doesn't tell us whether they are at grade level.

For example, the current 6th grade class at Williamstown Elementary School (WES) has decreased in their grade-level math proficiency every year since their 3rd grade MCAS. In 2024, 64 percent of the class was meeting expectations; in 2025 48 percent were at grade level, and in 2026 only 33 percent of their class met grade-level expectations. Our current WES 5th grade class follows a similar trend, with 48 percent meeting grade-level math expectations last year vs 56 percent meeting expectations in 2025 when they were in 3rd grade.

Not every class follows this pattern; our current 7th graders gained to 62 percent last year. But seeing entire classes decrease is something that deserves our attention.

Growth comparisons across the state provide useful information, but they do not tell the complete story. We also need to look at where our students are in terms of grade-level proficiency and how those numbers are changing from year to year within the Mt. Greylock school district. This will be our first year with the math interventionist role filled at WES and our second year with the new i-Ready curriculum.

As we watch whether these changes are working, I hope the School Committee will discuss proficiency alongside growth in its public meetings, so our community can see the full picture. Growth matters, but it isn’t enough if fewer of our kids are reaching grade level each year.

Sincerely,

Jenna Hasenkampf
Williamstown, Mass.

Hasenkampf is a parent of WES students in Grades 2 and 4.

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