Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Assessment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District presents mixed assessment results, highlights professional learning community training
Summary
Superintendent and staff presented preliminary three-year trends in reading and math proficiency, previewed a new kindergarten screener (Amira) and emphasized district-wide professional learning community (PLC) training that sent 145 participants to a recent workshop to align instruction and assessments.
District leadership presented preliminary, nonfinal assessment results and described a districtwide professional development push meant to improve instructional consistency and student outcomes.
Superintendent Kim Beckendahl and other staff said the results shown were preliminary and subject to state business rules. Beckendahl summarized kindergarten results: “In kindergarten, we ended with 77 percent of our kids who reached the kindergarten proficiency,” and explained that the state’s current kindergarten screener (IRI) will be replaced next year by Amira, which will be administered later in the fall. Staff said the new screener is expected to shorten testing time and provide more actionable, AI-assisted diagnostic information.
Nut graf: Why it matters — The board saw three-year trend lines that show overall improvement in several grades but also some declines in specific grades. Trustees and staff said the district will use PLC teams to examine mismatches between curriculum, assessment and student placements and will focus next year on assessment practice to drive instruction.
Supporting details - PLC training and reach: The district sent about 145 participants to a high-impact PLC training in Boise; district leadership said this was funded with remaining grant dollars and local professional-development funds so that large teams from multiple buildings could attend. - Assessment highlights: Preliminary kindergarten proficiency was reported at 77%; other grades showed mixed results (some grades trending upward, some flat or down slightly). Staff noted the ISAT ELA proficiencies were generally in the 40s for several middle grades and in the 50s for high school in some measures; math proficiencies were lower in middle school but trending upward in places where curriculum and additional instructional time were added. - Assessment changes: Staff said the state will move the fall kindergarten screener later in the fall (October instead of August/September) and adopt Amira; the district expects shorter administration times (about 20 minutes) and more diagnostic outputs.
Discussion and next steps - Board members asked for a deeper data work session in the fall to “get dirty with the data,” and staff offered to bring middle-school leaders to describe what changes produced gains. - Staff said they will continue PLC work next year with a focus on assessment alignment and identifying why specific grades showed downward trends.
Ending: Trustees thanked staff for the overview and accepted the presentation as informational; follow-up data sessions were requested for fall.
