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District reports early gains from seventh‑grade ELA de‑leveling pilot
Summary
Wallingford‑Swarthmore presented early student, teacher and MAP test data from a seventh‑grade ELA de‑leveling pilot. Presenters said most students report manageable challenge levels, teachers observed richer classroom discussion, and average MAP RIT scores rose modestly from fall to winter.
Dr. Leslie Pratt updated the Educational Affairs Committee on the district’s middle‑school ELA de‑leveling pilot at the March 12 meeting, reporting formative student and teacher data after implementing de‑leveling at seventh grade in September 2024.
De‑leveling is defined in district materials as avoiding permanent tracking that limits students’ access to grade‑level expectations. Pratt told the committee the pilot was designed to give all seventh graders access to grade‑level standards and to create a single, shared prep for teachers so instructional goals could be pursued more deeply across the cohort. “All learners should have access to high level experience and to grade level expectations,” Pratt said.
Student surveys conducted after the first semester showed the majority of seventh graders said the course was appropriately challenging: roughly 70% reported they completed work “with some effort and [were] learning,” a smaller group said the course felt like a stretch, and very few said it felt too easy. Teachers reported more varied and richer classroom conversations than expected and said the single prep enabled deeper focus on common learning targets.
Pratt presented MAP assessment data comparing fall to winter RIT scores. Average RIT for the de‑leveled seventh‑grade cohort rose from about 224 to 229, a modest increase the district cited as encouraging. Students who would historically have been placed in an “enriched” track largely maintained their percentile standing; some students in the historical “core” group showed smaller gains and slipped modestly in percentile rank, prompting the district to flag that subgroup for continued monitoring.
The district disaggregated results for Black students (a small n) and said last year’s cohort experienced a notable drop in percentile even where RIT scores remained similar; by contrast, the current de‑leveled cohort’s RIT scores increased and did not show the same precipitous percentile decline. Pratt cautioned the sample sizes are small and that staff will continue to examine trends student by student.
Chris Mancenka, principal at Strathcannon Middle School, told the committee de‑leveling reduced unintended grouping and created schedule flexibility and structural opportunities for enrichment and intervention. “As an administrator, that is a huge takeaway,” he said.
Next steps include finalizing eighth‑grade de‑level planning this spring, calibrating common TDA (text‑based analysis) prompts across grades, convening teams in May and over the summer for curricular work, and preparing any small material purchases for literature units. The district will continue to monitor MAP and local assessment data and share updates with the board as additional cohorts complete the de‑leveling sequence through high school.
