Bismarck schools highlight Wit & Wisdom literacy rollout; board accepts literacy report and approves revised indicators

Bismarck — The Bismarck School Board on Feb. 10 heard district staff, students and parents describe early results from the district’s new literacy work and voted to accept the R 2.1 academic achievement — literacy report as “making reasonable progress.” The board also approved the first reading of revised R 2.1 indicators intended to clarify which statewide assessments will be used to monitor subgroup performance and growth.

District staff and two fifth-grade students told the board that the district has combined foundation programs for early reading with a new language-comprehension core to create a coordinated K–5 literacy approach. "Over the past 2 years, I've had the privilege of sharing the efforts we've made to provide professional learning and literacy instruction for our teachers that's grounded in scientific research," said Tina Plaitland, a district presenter. Students Quinn Hintz and Brinley Peterson described classroom work using the new materials: "I'm using so many new vocabulary words, and I feel more successful in reading this year," Quinn said. Brinley told the board, "It's hard, but it's worth it." Rachel Schaffner, a district staff member and parent, said her kindergartner has taken up parts-of-speech vocabulary and that she expects the K–5 work to support secondary-level literacy instruction.

The presentation described the district's mix of materials: UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute's foundational program) for kindergarten through second grade, a 95% phonics/word-study resource for grades 3–5, and Wit & Wisdom as the core language-comprehension and aligned writing/grammar program. Staff referenced Scarborough's "reading rope" as the framework tying foundational skills (word recognition) to higher-order language comprehension (background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning and literacy knowledge). Superintendent Dr. Fosnott told the board the district implemented the change to align with the state's requirement that adopted programs reflect the science of reading.

District assessment staff and Dr. Johnson presented the R 2.1 results report, which the board accepted as making reasonable progress. The report noted six of seven indicators were making reasonable progress and that one indicator showed an exception and will be examined further. Staff described challenges in using multiple assessments for the same purposes: the district is moving from PowerSchool toward Infinite Campus as a student information system and will lose an existing data-warehouse tool (Viewpoint) in June; in parallel, assessments and reporting windows have changed (for example, the state test referenced as NDSA replaced an ACT-based state assessment and MAP/AIMSweb/STAR assessments operate on different schedules). To reduce confusion and preserve subgroup sample sizes, staff recommended monitoring subgroup performance on the state-reported NDSA+ measure and reporting growth using NWEA MAP for grades 2–8.

Board member Amanda Peterson, chair of the learning excellence committee, said the revisions aim to keep the indicator set vendor-agnostic and practical so future assessment changes will not force repeated rewriting of board indicators. Mr. Lee praised the district's progress in packaging data and reducing staff workload in report preparation.

Action and votes: The board voted to accept the R 2.1 academic achievement — literacy report as making reasonable progress. The motion to accept the report was moved by Mr. Lee and seconded (second not specified in the public record). Roll-call votes recorded in the transcript were: Lee — yes; Peterson — yes; Presky — yes; Hager — yes; Eastgate — yes. Later in the meeting the board voted to approve the first reading of the revised R 2.1 indicators that move subgroup monitoring to the state NDSA+ dataset and limit growth reporting to MAP (grades 2–8). That motion was moved by Amanda Peterson and approved by roll call (recorded yes votes included Lee, Peterson, Presky, Hager, Eastgate).

Why it matters: The combined curriculum shift — phonics and word study for foundational skills plus Wit & Wisdom for language comprehension and aligned writing — represents a systemwide instructional change aimed at aligning classroom practice with the science of reading and improving long-term reading outcomes. The board's acceptance of the report and approval of indicator changes set which assessments the district will use publicly to monitor subgroup performance and growth and clarified reporting during a state and vendor transition.

Discussion items and next steps: Staff said the district will continue to dig into subgroup results (noting Hispanic-language learners were singled out for closer review) and will refine local supports for struggling readers. The district also signaled it will present further budget and implementation implications from data-warehouse and assessment transitions as technology vendors change. The district linked additional student/parent comments and classroom examples in the agenda packet.

Board members and district staff emphasized the distinction between discussion and formal decision: teachers, students and parents offered testimony and classroom evidence during the focus-of-success presentation; the board separately took the formal actions to accept the report and approve first-reading indicator revisions.