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District reports winter reading and math diagnostics show mixed progress; DIBELS gains for multilingual learners
Summary
Gresham-Barlow staff presented mid-year DIBELS and i-Ready results showing gains in decoding (DIBELS) and mixed outcomes in reading comprehension and math growth; district said programs including ECRI, 95% Group and new coaching roles are in place to accelerate progress.
Gresham-Barlow School District presented winter academic diagnostics at its Feb. 28 work session, reporting incremental gains in early literacy decoding and mixed outcomes on comprehension and math diagnostics.
Elementary reading: Heidi Lascher and colleagues reviewed DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) results. Lascher said the district has seen declines in the share of students requiring “intensive” support and increases in the proportion that measure at or above core on DIBELS in several grades and cohorts. She highlighted gains for DLI (dual-language immersion) students: in multiple grade bands district presenters said a higher share of DLI students were proficient in at least one language compared with non‑DLI emerging multilingual learners.
Comprehension and growth: The district uses i-Ready to measure reading comprehension and growth. The winter snapshot showed 38 percent of students at or above grade level on i-Ready reading and a substantive group one grade-level below. Lascher noted “typical” and “stretch” growth metrics: about 34 percent of students had met typical annual growth by winter and approximately 12 percent had met stretch growth. She said students will need to reach stretch growth for consecutive years to make up multi-grade-level gaps.
Math and STAR: Middle-school STAR (Renaissance) diagnostics were introduced as a new district diagnostic; results showed stronger growth in some middle-school grades (notably eighth grade) but questions remain about sixth- and seventh-grade trajectories and implementation differences across sites. For i-Ready math, winter data showed most grades in high-growth quadrants but that only about 21 percent of students had met typical math growth and 5 percent stretch growth by winter, signaling the district must continue interventions.
Interventions and next steps: Lascher said the district is implementing ECRI and the 95% Group for phonics and advanced word study, adding small-group coaches to align intervention with core instruction; schools have learning walks and coaching in “talk-read-write” routines. For math, the district is piloting math labs where grade-level teams practice lessons with small student groups and then debrief. Lascher said the district had deployed curriculum updates and is continuing coaching and professional development.
Ending: Staff said they will continue to update the board through the spring diagnostic window and provide school-level contextual reports at the planned March presentations.
