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District math midyear report: district rolls out "Building Thinking Classrooms" practices, sees expected winter diagnostic gaps
Summary
K–12 math coordinator presented midyear I-Ready and PSAT results and described district implementation of the Building Thinking Classrooms approach, increased interventionist support, and professional learning for teachers; staff emphasized that I‑Ready midyear diagnostics reflect end‑of‑year standards and will be reassessed in spring.
Wallingford School District staff presented a midyear update on mathematics instruction on March 3, describing classroom practice changes, interim assessment results and how the district is using data to target interventions.
"It has centered around, some current research, and it's around a resource that was released a few years back called Building Thinking Classrooms," said Christy Menancey, the district’s K–12 mathematics coordinator, describing a multi-year effort to adopt teaching practices intended to increase student reasoning time. Staff described 14 research-based practices from that resource and said the district prioritized the first three toolkit practices—task selection, random grouping and use of vertical non-permanent surfaces—before expanding implementation.
Administrators and math leaders reviewed I‑Ready midyear diagnostic results for grades K–8 and PSAT data for high school students. Staff stressed that the I‑Ready diagnostic measures end‑of‑year standards and the district administers it in September, January and May; the January results reflect that many students had not yet received the curriculum content sampled by the test. "The I Ready test is testing end of year expectations," Menancey said. Presenters repeatedly told the committee that lower midyear percentages in "on or above grade level" bands are expected at that point in the year because instruction on some grade-level units occurs later in the year.
The presentation included specific district actions: the district is in the second year of new curriculum implementation at several elementary grades and the interventionists now provide a dedicated math interventionist at each elementary school. Staff said interventionists are increasingly "pushing in" to classrooms to align small-group instruction with core lessons. "The interventionists are pushing in to some math classrooms, which has been hugely beneficial," Menancey said; she added that interventionists and classroom teachers coordinate on small groups and curricular mapping to address prerequisite skills in real time.
At the secondary level, staff said grades 6–8 and high school departments have completed book-study work and are embedding toolkit 1 practices; middle and high school teachers use a "look-for" observation tool the staff developed to guide classroom visits. For high school students, presenters explained PSAT focus areas—algebra, advanced algebra, problem solving/data analysis, geometry/trigonometry—and noted that the district has mapped PSAT/SAT content into its course sequence. "We have mapped all the content on the SAT and PSAT to our courses," Menancey said.
Board members pressed for context on midyear percentages and comparisons with previous years. When a board member asked how the midyear results for second grade compare to last year, staff said the historical comparison was not immediately at hand but they would supply it later. Board members also asked about subgroup reporting, special education and multilingual learners; Menancey said subgroup breakdowns would appear in school and district improvement plans and described layered supports including resource-room hours, intervention blocks and push-in services.
Staff emphasized multiple data sources: teachers use item-analysis from PSAT and SAT results, course grades and in-class performance as complementary indicators of student learning. District leaders said they use adaptive diagnostic features and MyPath individualized lessons in I‑Ready to target instruction between tests.
The presentation concluded with board questions about coaching and professional learning. Menancey and other staff described collegial visits, PLG (professional learning group) time and planned professional development that offers teachers practical coaching, task planning and shared lesson debriefs. The district said it will continue to monitor student progress through the spring diagnostic and apply interventions where diagnostic and classroom data indicate need.
Ending: Staff will return to the board with further data, including subgroup breakdowns and year‑to‑year comparisons, and the district will report spring diagnostic results after May testing.
