Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Assessment And Intervention topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Midyear iReady shows mixed reading and math results; district plans more interventions
Summary
Chief academic officer Kim Moore presented midyear iReady results showing pockets of strength in reading interventions and persistent gaps in some math domains. The district plans more intervention staff, SPIRE programming and a middle-school intervention schedule next year.
Elizabeth School District officials presented midyear iReady benchmark results to the board on Feb. 24, showing steady outcomes in math and measurable gains in reading where targeted interventions were in place.
Kim Moore, the district’s chief academic officer, told the board the midyear math results are consistent with recent years and noted attendance gaps affected testing in the middle grades after winter illnesses. “We did have a large portion of middle school kids that were sick during the assessment,” Moore said, adding those students finished assessments but did not appear in the district’s midyear benchmark numbers.
Moore gave school-level figures for math and reading. In math, Singing Hills had 43% of students at or above grade level at midyear; Running Creek stood at about 34%; Elizabeth Middle School was at 41% after its first year implementing the i-Ready classroom curriculum. On reading, Singing Hills was at 62% at or above grade level (a 1-point increase year-over-year), Running Creek improved to 46% (a 5-point increase), and Elizabeth Middle School was at 48%, roughly 3 percentage points higher than the same point last year.
Board members pressed district staff on the geometry and number-operations splits in elementary math. Moore said geometry often lags because some geometry content is scheduled later in the year, and the district can use i-Ready’s personalized lessons to accelerate exposure before the April CMAS tests.
The district highlighted targeted interventions as drivers of reading gains. Moore described a structured intervention block (WIN time) and school schedules that deploy dedicated interventionists and classroom teachers trained to deliver SPIRE — the district’s chosen reading intervention — particularly at Running Creek, a Title I school. “We have dedicated interventionists at Running Creek because they are a Title I school,” Moore said.
Board members raised the number of students scoring two or more grade levels below (about 100 students, as discussed during the meeting) and asked how the district will prevent long-term gaps. Officials said next year’s middle-school schedule will include expanded intervention time and an effort to add an interventionist at Elizabeth Middle School to reduce the number of students leaving elementary behind.
Moore also noted assessment timing: final district i-Ready testing is scheduled in early May, and CMAS results are released later in the summer; Legacy (a partner program) does separate MAP testing and staff will invite Legacy to present its midyear results to the district and the District Accountability Committee.
Ending: Moore said she will return in the spring with end-of-year breakdowns and invited board members to submit requests for specific reporting details they want in the final dataset.
