District presents early‑year assessment snapshots; kindergarten scores show large mid‑year gains

District staffer Jessica Duran presented a status report on several district assessments, emphasizing tools staff use year‑round that are actionable between Smarter Balanced administrations.

Duran showed kindergarten beginning‑of‑year results where roughly 38% of students met the benchmark in September and that figure rose to about 81% by January on a beginning quantity discrimination measure administered to kindergarteners in September, January and May. She told the board the end‑of‑year (May) snapshot is not yet available.

At the fourth‑grade level, a timed computation assessment (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in a three‑minute timed task) moved from about 36% at benchmark in September to about 50% in the midyear snapshot; Duran said teachers continue to focus on that area and projected higher year‑end results.

For middle school, Duran presented a one‑minute grade‑level cold read for sixth grade. At the beginning of the year, approximately 48% of students met the words‑per‑minute benchmark; the midyear figure rose to about 51%. She noted accuracy is also measured and the district’s accuracy target is 96% — 70% of sixth graders met that target at the beginning of the year and 71% did at midyear. Duran and the middle‑school team planned a meeting to analyze the results and determine interventions or instructional changes.

High school snapshots included tenth‑grade English assessments: the first unit (media literacy and persuasive speech) initially showed about 74% meeting or exceeding standard districtwide; after reteaching targeted students the same assessment rose to about 84% meeting/exceeding, with 10% approaching and 6% not meeting. A subsequent unit (persuasive essay and editing) produced an initial 73% meeting/exceeding. In science, an initial freshman unit (waves and sound) showed 26% meeting/exceeding; after reteaching and teaching unit 2, the team reported an increase to 71% meet/exceed and a reduction in students not meeting standards from 34% to 11%.

Duran said elementary teams review data weekly, middle‑school teams will meet soon to plan interventions, and high schools are developing processes for regular data review. Board members asked whether social media, AI‑assisted writing and summer learning loss could be factors; staff said the specific cold‑read measures are not influenced by AI and that further analysis would examine causes such as reduced reading outside school or foundational skill gaps.

Ending: Board members thanked staff for the transparent presentation and requested opportunities to observe teacher PLCs; no formal board action was taken on the data report.