Roosevelt Elementary reports reading, math gains; PBIS implementation reaches 50% fidelity

Roosevelt Elementary staff told the Faribault school board Jan. 27 that the school’s site-improvement plan is producing measurable gains in literacy and math and that the building’s new positive-behavior (PBIS) work is already showing progress.

Principal Ashley Benhart presented the school’s goals and work with instructional staff, joined by instructional coach Laurie Kelly and PBIS coach Taylor Reese. The team said the site-improvement plan focuses on three priorities: literacy, math and PBIS (schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports).

Why this matters: Roosevelt’s results are a local example of curriculum and instructional changes, including systematic phonics adoption for early grades and targeted PBIS strategies, producing measurable growth that the district and board track with assessments and inventories.

Literacy and phonics

Benhart said the K–2 literacy goal is to have 80% of K–2 students land in the FastBridge “typical” or “aggressive” growth categories; K–2 finished last year at roughly 87% on that metric. For grades 3–5 the target is a 6-percentage-point increase in students in the top two growth categories, from about 66% to 72%.

The school has introduced the Bridge to Read curriculum and emphasized systematic phonics in K–3 instruction. The presentation included a classroom video demonstrating phonics instruction and school leaders described regular mastery checks and PLC discussions so teachers can address learning gaps quickly.

Math: standards alignment and vocabulary

Roosevelt’s math committee set a target that 80% of students k–5 reach the top two growth categories. Initiatives include vertical alignment of curriculum to identify gaps between grade-level standards and the district’s MyMath materials, explicit vocabulary instruction with teacher and student word cards, and weekly progress monitoring.

PBIS progress and programming

Roosevelt adopted PBIS this year and used the Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI) to measure implementation. The school began the process with a TFI score of 37% and reported a current score of 50%, exceeding the initial goal. Staff cited systems such as SOAR expectations posted throughout the building, SOAR tickets, assemblies, “golden tray” cafeteria recognition and classroom-level awards.

Board response and next steps

Board members praised staff for coaching, the “buddy” reading program that pairs older and younger students, and the use of data to drive instruction. Dr. Moore and other board members specifically commended the school’s switch to systematic phonics and the progress on math MCAs and other measures.

Ending

Roosevelt leaders closed by thanking staff and the community and inviting board members to visit classrooms; they said they will continue monitoring FastBridge, mastery checks and PBIS measures to guide next steps.