[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6259522,"mediaKeyId","3140987-8420a8a46cc7b6ebadb4606de964dffe","parentId",3140987,"title","FCPS presents MTSS intervention framework; board questions timeliness of escalation, parent communication and after‑school support","audioSeconds",3719,"startMs",3726000,"endMs",6357,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3140987-8420a8a46cc7b6ebadb4606de964dffe&start=3726&end=6","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3140987-8420a8a46cc7b6ebadb4606de964dffe/thumbnail_3726000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6259522/Maryland/FCPS-presents-MTSS-intervention-framework-board-questions-timeliness-of-escalation-parent-communication-and-afterschool-support","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6259522-4c3c3865c7ce1605e340d79fcdd0a6f7/orig.mp4?Expires=1775415265&Signature=kQOTTR~kV9oXs09j4xHdmTQsQXetCpQo~8rgDyW3nMXNWO-tn27FnyXpZVohO9hDX93TK0RRCEWN~24wkVONvh~maO1yJde-YL~fVfn7JVDNlWVcHLTxK7fUM3MEgyHsj7swm2THw0yqhv6WQzOPdfn9fhbp~WLDJQtM1DH~n1jhRKxfuX77ycmEwtBr9Tjoi3-VpshbMaGHZHKwXmMW-XAuoizGnu21dC0sQ4~1SZrvSAeoUz8rcQCo6rNJqJ8Qn~fwB~ISkkozK04jcN1MQsB5dPRMUpGhI84~2TUFDzzEdYRkLbqWzp9Hl1yaY68uCAK8fxF0C~40KBBZnf322A__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Frederick County Public Schools","date","2025-04-29T00:26:56.873Z","article","Frederick County Public Schools’ assessment and intervention staff reviewed the district’s multi‑tiered system of supports (MTSS) for reading and math and answered board questions about screening, escalation, parent notification and supplemental tutoring options.

Frank Feder, director of Assessment, Data Reporting and Strategic Improvement, said his office oversees tier 2 and tier 3 interventions while working closely with curriculum and special education staff. “The intervention for reading and math mostly falls under my particular office,” he told the committee.

Presenters described the district’s screening and intervention architecture. FCPS runs universal screeners three times a year; elementary reading screening uses DIBELS plus diagnostics, and math screening and diagnostics include I‑Ready and other grade‑specific measures. Schools use screening results to place students in tiered supports: tier 1 universal classroom instruction, tier 2 supplemental small‑group interventions, and tier 3 intensive, multi‑year programs or specially designed instruction when needed.

Math interventions at elementary level include Do the Math, Math Navigator, Number Worlds (kindergarten), and Connecting Math Concepts for the most intensive needs. Secondary options include on‑course “math readiness” classes and algebra readiness courses that compact prerequisite skills and provide targeted instruction. Jennifer Fleming, teacher specialist for math intervention, said schools choose the program and modules that best match a student’s root cause: “We can decide based on the students' need what we need to… if we need something more intensive.”

Reading interventions follow the science of reading and are matched to two strands: word recognition and language comprehension. Programs listed by presenters include NyeHuus Reading Readiness, Really Great Reading, Language Foundations, Orton‑Gillingham Plus, Read180, Achieve3000 and Visualizing and Verbalizing. District staff said Language Foundations and Orton‑Gillingham Plus are multi‑year, intensive structured literacy programs reserved for students with the most significant needs.

Progress monitoring: Schools are expected to progress‑monitor intervention students frequently; presenters said progress checks occur about every three to four weeks and that a lack of gains after multiple monitoring cycles prompts escalation to more intensive support. Bridal Garst, acting supervisor of intervention and local assessment, said, “All students in MCPS received tier 1 supports,” and described collaborative school teams (ALP, core teams, SST) that use screening and diagnostic data to make placement decisions.

Board members pressed district staff on several operational points. Multiple board members and audience commenters said parent communications about risk and screening outcomes are sometimes too technical or understated; staff acknowledged the concern and said the district is reviewing notification letters and outreach practices and that school counselors or literacy specialists will typically follow up with a call when placement is recommended. Presenters confirmed that schools should contact parents before placing a student in intervention and that parents may decline services.

Direct intervention capacity and after‑school supports were a recurring concern. District staff said many earlier supplemental tutoring initiatives were funded with ESSER/COVID relief dollars that have since expired; that funding lapse reduces centrally funded after‑school tutoring capacity. Staff and a committee member noted low‑cost options such as local high‑school math honor societies tutoring younger students as an underused resource.

On timing and escalation, speakers acknowledged the tradeoffs in intensity and fit: district staff said they will not force a long multi‑year intensive program on a student who only needs a targeted module, but they also said schools can and do move students directly to more intensive supports when screening data indicate that is appropriate. Feder and intervention specialists emphasized early identification: new kindergarten pilots (Kickstart) and number‑sets screening aim to detect needs earlier to avoid multi‑year deficits.

Committee members also raised accountability questions about building‑level monitoring when a large number of students are failing a single course. Presenters said principals are the school instructional leaders and the first line for monitoring class performance; the central office can intervene when it receives school or parent reports and through quarterly instructional director visits.

Votes at a glance: Committee registered consensus to approve the March meeting minutes; no other formal votes on interventions were recorded.

Follow up: District staff said they will refine parent communications, continue the kindergarten field tests and report progress on implementation and usage monitoring at a future meeting.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Curriculum & Instruction Committee Meeting - April 23, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","Frederick County Public Schools’ assessment and intervention staff reviewed the district’s MTSS framework for reading and math, detailing three‑tier screening and the programs used for tier 2 and tier 3 supports and answering board questions about escalation and parent communication.","taxTitle","Frederick County Public Schools, School Boards, Maryland","taxId",14207,"location","Maryland","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6259527,"Frederick County math team outlines statewide-aligned plan, schedules multi-year rollout of Ready Classroom and Reveal Math",3712,93000,3805000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3140987-8420a8a46cc7b6ebadb4606de964dffe&start=93&end=3805","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3140987-8420a8a46cc7b6ebadb4606de964dffe/thumbnail_93000.jpg","/articles/6259527/Maryland/Frederick-County-math-team-outlines-statewide-aligned-plan-schedules-multi-year-rollout-of-Ready-Classroom-and-Reveal-Math","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6259527-f02abc9a62a5ba775af2bb27a7d1eaf5/orig.mp4?Expires=1775415265&Signature=Se~BHCgVQtiPzavPezrf4FoER87YPVLI9On0XxbAEGWXA9rUFA4gc-HbS9kyGsR3o0l1WcQhW~KkHs9QNvUjx-m0MHasOhwgVW4IOnS2FJz-Mf0l4fEgOauN5BT9i3oGB3C9izt0sOofM1EU90XfbalWnbY2n3D8npQXo~d3NTR6KOLTVYHWs-PqyDoPQK3l9RcjhG980U09eD57gGwJZe-b42TXh7LnycvA7RUqG3eHjPyFO2JVZQss49mPlUjA7ESRNCDQwVl7jtOcP85Wk1BfZobVSPUgeTLS32D68OuDdfqVSufXYPyIhOSoZnYHtl9qk1BW9Np-IyR-N24UMA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Frederick County Public Schools officials told the Curriculum & Instruction Committee that the district has submitted a multi‑draft, preK–12 comprehensive mathematics plan to the state and is advancing local implementation of high‑quality instructional materials, including Ready Classroom in elementary grades and Reveal Math in secondary grades.

The plan’s authors said the work aligns with a statewide math policy the Maryland State Board adopted on March 25, 2025, and with the Maryland College and Career Ready Standards; final local revisions to the plan are scheduled for submission after additional state feedback later this summer.

The comprehensive plan formalizes the district’s goals, metrics and six priorities — including early learning, a multi‑tiered system of academic supports, equitable instruction, professional learning, and community engagement — and ties progress monitoring to both state (MCAP) and local diagnostic measures such as I‑Ready and district common assessments. “This plan is not only a formalization of the work that we value and are already doing,” said Stacy Sisler, FCPS secondary math curriculum specialist.

District staff described the current local instructional materials and implementation timeline. Ready Classroom is the adopted K–5 core program; FCPS began Ready Classroom with grades 3–5 in 2023–24 and added kindergarten through grade 2 for the current school year. Reveal Math is the adopted secondary core program for grades 6 through Algebra 2; the district said Reveal and its partner ALEKS are bundled under the Reveal contract and available to students in those courses. Ashley Hawkins, a school‑based secondary math specialist at Urbana Middle School, described Reveal and ALEKS as more coherent than earlier, fragmented resources and said the platforms help families support students at home.

Staff stressed that high‑quality materials are only one element of successful implementation. The district has school‑based elementary and secondary math specialists who lead school professional learning, conduct classroom visits and support new teachers. Sisler said implementation monitoring will include both informal and formal classroom walkthroughs and measures drawn from vendor partners and district walkthrough tools.

On assessment and timing, FCPS officials said they use a layered assessment system: classroom formative checks, district common (core module) assessments, diagnostics such as I‑Ready and ALEKS, and the state MCAP assessment. Sisler told the committee that meaningful district‑level impact from a new core program generally appears after a multi‑year rollout: “Any kind of implementation takes 3 to 5 years,” she said, and the district expects a clearer signal around year three of full implementation. District presenters added that the ALEKS implementation — in its fourth year in FCPS — has produced a measurable correlation between student interaction with the personalized ALEKS “pie” and other assessment proficiency when students complete about 50–60 percent of their pie.

Committee members asked how the state provides feedback on the plan. Sisler said MSDE (the Maryland State Department of Education), working with a Johns Hopkins review team and other expert reviewers, supplied a first round of feedback on the district’s preK–5 submission in an emailed document with highlighted areas for growth; FCPS submitted a revised preK–5 section in January and will receive a second round of feedback after expert review team school visits. The district plans a final submission at the end of the summer after that feedback.

Board members also questioned how FCPS evaluates outcomes and compares neighboring districts. Sisler said the district has not conducted a formal cross‑district causal analysis but noted MSDE has visited FCPS schools that showed significant MCAP gains. School representatives described local data‑use practices — common module assessments, classroom walkthroughs and ALP (accelerated learning process) teams — that feed central office reviews.

Staff described professional learning structures designed to build teacher fluency with the new materials, including systemic professional learning in August and January, quarterly collaboration nights, and school‑level coaching. The district emphasized equitable supports built into the adopted materials (vocabulary instruction, discourse routines and language development handbooks) and said it will continue to refine how materials support multilingual learners and students with disabilities.

Next steps: FCPS will continue to revise its comprehensive math plan based on MSDE feedback, refine measures of implementation quality in year three of rollout, and report progress to the committee at a future meeting.

Votes at a glance: No formal ordinance or resolution votes were recorded on the math presentation itself. Staff requested committee feedback and scheduling changes; the committee later registered consensus to approve the March meeting minutes (see separate article).","Frederick County Public Schools officials told the Curriculum & Instruction Committee that the district has submitted a multi‑draft, preK–12 comprehensive mathematics plan to the state and is advancing local implementation of Ready Classroom (K–5) and Reveal Math (6–Algebra 2), aligned to a state math policy adopted March 25, 2025.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

FCPS presents MTSS intervention framework; board questions timeliness of escalation, parent communication and after‑school support

Frederick County math team outlines statewide-aligned plan, schedules multi-year rollout of Ready Classroom and Reveal Math