Sparta Area School District outlines Act 20 literacy plan, demonstrates NextPath progress‑monitoring tool

Rachel Frazee, a Sparta parent, urged the school board to make literacy a top priority, describing progress her children made after receiving evidence‑based instruction and home tutoring.

Kyla Manske, a district staff member, presented a high‑level overview of the district’s draft early literacy remediation plan developed to meet Wisconsin’s Act 20 requirements, and demonstrated how the NextPath platform will support screening, diagnostics, personalized reading plans and family communication.

Manske said the district’s process begins with universal screening to flag students at risk, follows with diagnostic assessments to pinpoint areas of need, and then creates a personal reading plan for students who score below the 25th percentile on the screener. The district will use tiered interventions: tier 2 interventions delivered in the classroom for grade‑level skills and tier 3 interventions typically provided outside the classroom for below‑grade‑level skills. Progress monitoring is scheduled weekly to check whether interventions are producing growth.

Manske explained that…