Round Lake reports K–8 I‑Ready gains; four schools meet typical growth benchmarks

At its July 21 meeting, the Round Lake Area Board of Education heard a district report showing measurable fall-to-spring improvement on the I‑Ready adaptive reading and math assessments for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The presentation, led by district assessment staff, summarized three main measures used by the district: grade-level placement, annual typical growth and annual stretch growth, and showed that four of seven K–8 schools met or exceeded I‑Ready's typical growth benchmark in reading and four of seven met it in math. Casey, a district presenter, said: "Typically, 50% of students are expected to make their annual typical growth in a given school year," explaining how the median progress metric is used to assess a school's year-over-year performance. District staff noted that 25 to 35% of students nationally meet the more ambitious I‑Ready stretch growth target. Administrators highlighted several local results. Districtwide, the percentage of elementary students scoring in I‑Ready's mid-grade-or-above placement band rose 13 percentage points in both reading and math from fall to spring; the share of students two or more grade levels below dropped 18 points in reading and 25 points in math. At the kindergarten dual-language level, the district reported unusually strong spring placements: 57% at Beach, 64% at Murphy and 57% at Ellis were performing at grade-level placement in Spanish reading. Dr. Stefan, who led portions of the presentation, called out the dual-language kindergarten results: "Kudos definitely need to be given to our dual language kindergarten classroom teachers," and said the outcome exceeded typical dual-language expectations. Board members pressed for clarity on interpretation. Board member Jewett summarized the point for lay listeners, saying the growth metrics compare students to expected progress from their fall starting points rather than absolute placement: "To your point, the growth is actually compared to where the starting point is." District staff described next steps: continued rollout of new curricular adoptions at middle school (math and social studies), implementation of instructional coaching at the elementary level to support newly adopted curricula, and targeted work with principals to replicate effective special-education co-teaching practices where students with disabilities showed strong median growth at some schools. Why this matters: the district said I‑Ready placement in the green band correlates with better performance on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) and framed the gains as early evidence that recent curriculum investments and instructional changes are producing measurable student progress. The board did not take formal action on the presentation itself; members were invited to request a follow-up IAR and state-report-card briefing in the fall when state assessment results are available.