MFEE Awards $47,000 Grant to Support New Data Platform
The Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence (MFEE) has awarded a $47,000 grant to the Montclair Public Schools to help fund LinkIt!, a new district-wide data and assessment platform.
As outlined in a communication from Superintendent Ruth B. Turner to MPS families, “LinkIt! will allow teachers, administrators, and support staff to access academic, attendance, assessment, behavior, and social-emotional learning data in one secure location, making it easier to identify student needs and respond with timely support.”
MFEE, an independent non-profit, seeks to support systems and create conditions that allow excellent teaching, informed families, and student success to flourish. The organization believes this investment, in partnership with MPS, advances three key mission priorities:
Supporting educators. Montclair educators work tirelessly to understand and support students. This investment provides a system that helps bring together information as they work to meet the needs of diverse learners.
Advancing educational equity. Persistent opportunity gaps require communities to understand where disparities exist and whether strategies designed to address them are working. A common source of information can help identify patterns, evaluate supports, and guide decisions about resources and interventions.
Partnering with families. Families are essential partners in student success. Providing clearer, more accessible information about student learning can help families engage in meaningful conversations with educators and advocate for their children.
“On behalf of the Board of Education and Montclair Public Schools, I want to sincerely thank MFEE for its significant financial investment in bringing LinkIt! to our district,” Turner wrote in an email to MPS families. “Their partnership reflects a shared commitment to educational excellence, innovation, and student success. Together, we are equipping our educators with better tools, strengthening data-informed decision-making, and improving outcomes for every student. We are incredibly grateful for MFEE's continued support of our schools and our community.”
MFEE recognizes that this grant comes at a challenging time for the Montclair community. The district has faced significant financial pressures and difficult decisions affecting staff and school programs.
“As our superintendent has noted, strong educators need strong systems around them. This investment is not a replacement for people—it is one piece of the foundation needed to better understand student learning, identify barriers, support families, and continue improving outcomes for every child,” said Masiel Rodriquez-Vars, MFEE’s executive director.
She added: “We know success of this rollout will come from thoughtful implementation, meaningful training, and collaboration with educators and families to use information. We look forward to supporting the district with this work.”
Montclair High School Principal Jeffrey Freeman has had the opportunity to explore the tool and thinks it will be valuable to help understand student performance. “It will give our staff access to timely, meaningful data that allows us to identify trends, recognize areas of strength and improvement, and make more informed instructional decisions,” he said. “Ultimately, it will help us target support more effectively and ensure that every student has opportunities to grow and succeed.”
That sentiment was also shared by Hillside Elementary School Principal Edwyn Acevedo. “I was excited to dive into LinkIt, and I have already started sharing data with my teachers to help inform instruction,” Acevedo said. “As an elementary school principal, I’m especially enthusiastic about the potential to identify learning gaps early in a child’s academic journey, when timely intervention can make such a lasting difference. LinkIt gives us a more complete picture of student learning and is a powerful new way to ensure children get the support they need."
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