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Farmington reports midyear gains in literacy and math; district highlights authentic learning and CTE
Summary
Director of curriculum Margaret Hendrickson and district staff told the board that fall-to-winter NWEA growth improved in multiple grades, that EL Education's Wit & Wisdom and other literacy programs are showing early gains, and that the district has expanded career-readiness supports.
The Farmington Public Schools Board of Education received a midyear progress update Tuesday detailing instructional priorities and early assessment gains across grades K-12.
Margaret Hendrickson, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, outlined six strategic goal areas in the district improvement plan and said leaders are focusing on equitable, high-cognitive-demand learning across all classrooms. Hendrickson highlighted partnerships with New Tech Network, Urban Learning and Oakland 80 for authentic learning and career navigation.
Hendrickson reported early indicators of improved foundational reading readiness in second and third grades after the district's K-5 literacy work and said "we are seeing greater conditional growth on NWEA this year, fall to winter, than last year fall to winter. 34 percentile rank increase in conditional growth." She also said six of nine grade levels now exceed a district improvement goal for growth percentile on NWEA and described a 4 percent increase in students meeting midyear projections on the adopted literacy program.
District staff said math gains are emerging after targeted K-8 professional development and that the district will present a recommendation in April for new middle- and high-school math instructional resources following a teacher review process. At the high school level, staff said 39 percent of students participated in CTE courses in the first semester and that most 11th-graders demonstrated high-average growth on growth measures used by the district.
Hendrickson framed the results as early evidence that curriculum adoptions and professional learning are improving learning conditions and said the district will continue to monitor multiple data sources. Board members asked for continued data briefings and suggested a later, deeper review of outcomes and course-grouping options as the district reimagines high school pathways.
