Provo board briefed on Utah early learning plan changes; district sets math goals after SB127 removed statewide literacy target

Michelle Eldridge, the district’s director of continuous school improvement, briefed the Provo City School Board on changes to Utah’s early learning plan under Senate Bill 127 and on Provo’s K–3 goals for the coming school year. The state’s rewrite removed a required statewide literacy goal and now requires districts to set math goals; districts must still track literacy outcomes and diagnostic assessments. "The biggest change this last spring was ... they are now not allowing a literacy goal in the plan, only math goals," Eldridge said. Nut graf: The change shifts the state reporting requirement to math goals while retaining literacy diagnostics; Provo presented its math goals and the district’s implementation plan, including completed LETRS training for many teachers, the end of a related professional learning grant, and a state‑required change‑management process for principals. Eldridge told the board that LETRS professional development for K–3 teachers has been completed and that the district will continue to use LETRS as an in‑district professional development option, but the separate professional learning grant that helped pay for LETRS instructional coaching has ended. She said the state still requires diagnostic assessment in both literacy and math and that the district uses Acadience (the transcript term used: "Acadience/Acadians") as its diagnostic tool. Eldridge outlined the district’s proposed goals for math under the state plan: a statewide growth goal that the state sets (the district’s target is that 60% of students in grades 1–3 make typical or better growth as measured by Acadience math), plus local goals to increase the percentage of students at or above benchmark in first and second grades by seven percentage points. "Last year we did meet this goal ... unofficially 65% of our students made typical or better growth last year," Eldridge said, noting that the state’s official numbers lag district figures. Board members asked how the change affects literacy work. Eldridge said Provo will continue district literacy goals and reporting even though the state plan will track math goals; principals and district leaders must complete a state‑required change‑management process beginning in February to align school plans with district strategy. Staff described interventions and parent communication requirements that SB127 keeps in place — including required diagnostic assessment, required intervention systems, and three required parent communications per year — and said the district would provide additional professional development and propose supports for teachers who did not receive LETRS training, including targeted, lower‑intensity options and in‑district trainers who are LETRS‑certified. The board was told that the district uses a three‑year trend analysis when setting goals and that staff wrote math goals to account for irregularities in the first year of Acadience math implementation. Board members asked how school improvement plans and the district early learning goals align; staff said school plans use the district goals as a guide and then individualize targets once each school has its data. Ending: Eldridge said the district’s early learning plan has been submitted and approved by the state and that principals will begin the change‑management training in February; she invited board members to request more detailed data or one‑on‑one review of the three‑year trend analyses.