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District explains shift to i‑Ready diagnostic for reading and math; schools to send parent reports this month
Summary
Curriculum staff told the board Sept. 15 the district has moved benchmarking to i‑Ready for reading and math, described how teachers will use the diagnostic and individualized learning pathways, and said family reports will be mailed to parents later this month.
District curriculum staff briefed the board Sept. 15 on the district’s transition to the i‑Ready diagnostic for reading and math benchmarking and how staff and families will receive and use the data.
Chrissy Bowman, curriculum coordinator and data specialist, said the district moved to i‑Ready to align diagnostic items more closely with the Illinois learning standards and to provide grade‑level proficiency indicators rather than only national percentiles. "With this data from iReady, we are also able to report out not just percentile... but also grade level proficiency," Bowman said. She explained the diagnostic provides an overall score, grade‑level placement, domain breakdowns and growth measures labeled "typical" and "stretch."
A second presenter, a district curriculum staff member, described how teachers will use the data for instructional planning, small‑group lessons and individualized learning pathways that i‑Ready generates after the diagnostic. The staff member said the program offers teacher resources and that students receive personalized online practice aligned to identified needs.
Curriculum staff said parents will receive a paper family report after the fall benchmark this month; the family report includes student performance, domain breakdowns and suggested target skills and links to a public i‑Ready Family Center with translatable materials. Staff also said initial districtwide benchmarking using i‑Ready showed a slight dip in scores relative to the prior MAP benchmark results but said the pattern aligns more closely with state assessment trends.
Board members asked about grade bands covered (Bowman said reading and math only), whether historical data would appear on parent growth reports (staff said this year parents will receive fall/winter/spring comparisons going forward and teachers retain historical data), and distribution logistics (staff said buildings will send paper copies home and can supply digital copies on request; families can also access parent materials through the i‑Ready Family Center link on the district website).
