Board adopts mClass by Amplify as district reading-difficulty screener

The Belmont-Redwood Shores School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt mClass by Amplify as the district's Reading Difficulty Risk Screener (RDRS) for kindergarten through second grade.

Assistant Superintendent Ching Pei told the board the selection responds to state law (SB 114) requiring a compliant K–2 screener and to teacher feedback that instructional resources must be easy to access. "We are making a recommendation that we adopt mClass by Amplify tonight because of all of the strengths it has and the fact that it addresses our demographic changing our changing demographics and our student needs," Pei said.

The vote follows a multi-month process: Pei said a district committee of teachers, reading specialists and classroom teachers reviewed the four state‑approved options after the county publishers fair and conducted vendor demos in May. Pei told trustees the committee prioritized a tool that meets the legal requirements while also giving teachers usable, classroom‑ready lessons linked to each student result. Pei noted mClass includes a Spanish‑validated option, which the district considered essential because some state‑approved research tools had not been validated for native Spanish speakers in California.

Theresa Thompson, a first‑grade teacher and member of the selection committee, described the teacher experience with mClass during the board presentation. "It really just determines your educational needs in that classroom and makes it a lot clearer," Thompson said, describing class‑level summaries, student‑level graphs and one‑click instructional resources.

Pei said the district will adopt mClass for K–2 for 2025–26 and continue to use FastBridge for grades 3–8 for the time being. The recommendation reflects an intent to avoid duplicate testing and to preserve continuity for growth monitoring: "We don't want them to do both," Pei said, noting the committee sought a tool that also supports mid‑ and end‑of‑year assessments to track growth.

The board recorded the formal motion to adopt the product and voted in favor. Trustee Dang moved the motion; Trustee Tang seconded. After discussion and questions from trustees about administration time and teacher training, the board approved the adoption by unanimous voice vote.

The district plans professional development funded by SB 114 implementation dollars; Pei said year‑one license costs are covered in the initial rollout with discounted rates thereafter. The district will start with the K–2 rollout and may reconsider grades 3–8 later if the vendor expands its suite and teachers request broader adoption.

Implementation timelines, training dates and assessment window details will be scheduled before the 2025–26 school year.