District staff recommend iReady universal screener and adaptive toolkit; committee agrees to forward purchase to legislative meeting

Upper Dublin School District staff recommended Curriculum Associates’ iReady assessment and intervention suite May 7, telling the education committee the product will serve as the district’s universal screener and provide an integrated adaptive intervention toolkit for K–5.

Presenters said the tool’s universal screener assesses major reading and math strands and adapts to student responses to identify skill‑level strengths and frustration points. Staff emphasized that iReady’s adaptive student pathway and a “toolbox” of teacher lesson PDFs would enable teachers to assign targeted small‑group or one‑on‑one interventions directly tied to screener results.

District staff said iReady would replace currently used tools — including Acadience, DIBELS and LinkIt benchmarks — and noted iReady’s evidence profile (it is highly rated by National Center on Intensive Intervention and meets ESSA tiers of evidence). They said funds partially come from set‑aside IDEA/disproportionality resources intended to support early intervention and reduce excessive special education referrals.

Because the vendor offered a short implementation window, staff requested administrative approval to begin rostering, onboarding and limited pilot access this school year so teachers can familiarize themselves with the platform; the purchase would then be ratified at the legislative meeting (scheduled for May 19). The committee agreed to forward the recommended contract and to include the item for legislative approval.