Kenosha Unified presents midyear progress on aggressive three-year academic goal; Act 20 and tiered interventions highlighted

Kenosha Unified staff told district committees they are six months into year one of a three-year academic improvement plan that aims to raise the percentage of students scoring "meeting" or "advanced" in reading and math by 12 percentage points by spring 2027.

District leaders said they are using three broad strategies: strengthen grade-level instruction and data use in classrooms, scale tiered interventions for students who are behind, and cultivate positive learning environments while improving family and community engagement.

Presenters—curriculum and instructional coaches, school improvement staff and school leaders—outlined work under each strategy. For instruction, the elementary program focuses on early literacy aligned to Act 20 state requirements: district staff described an emphasis on seven instructional shifts (phonology, concepts of print, phonics, oral language, fluency and read-aloud practices among others), a combination of face-to-face professional learning and online Cox Campus modules, and a two-year system of coaching and implementation support with CESA 6.

Secondary professional learning is described as locally tailored, conference-style sessions led by district coaches and classroom teachers. Secondary leaders said they hold content rounds and instructional rounds where school teams and central-office staff observe classroom practice, gather structured feedback and use student surveys (Elevate) to collect learner-reported data on instructional conditions.

On interventions, the district reported a systemwide implementation of tier 3 interventions spanning elementary through high school. Staff said the district currently has "over a thousand students" receiving tier 3 interventions; during the school year so far 75 students have completed tier 3 and been exited from intensive support and 167 students progressed to a new, more rigorous plan. Presenters noted gaps remain: tier 3 is intensive and labor-intensive, and the district said it does not yet have enough interventionists to deliver all reading plans required by Act 20 for pupils in the 10th to the 24th percentile (district staff said students below the roughly 10th percentile typically require tier 3 intensive remediation).

Family and community engagement work is embedded in the plan: district staff reported 13 district-run events and six school-led events since July, and said they have engaged more than 1,500 parents and families. The district said it will continue to roll out ParentSquare as the primary communications platform and is planning spring community conversations to collect broader feedback for next-year planning.

District staff urged patience with multi-year change and noted their midyear report is a status update, not a list of completed outcomes. Several committee members asked for additional specificity on how the primary early-literacy efforts will be sustained through middle and high school and how tier 3 will be scaled as cohorts move up. District staff said the work includes continuing curriculum alignment, cross-level planning (for example sixth-grade teachers observing fifth-grade instruction) and redesign of summer programs and middle grades to accommodate students who still need intensive reading support.