Brevard officials say early-year assessment shows mixed gains; district to tighten reporting of testing minutes

Miss Tara Harris, a district assessment presenter, told the Brevard Public Schools Board of Education on Oct. 7 that the district's Progress Monitoring 1 (PM1) data show modest gains in some early grades and mixed results in upper elementary and secondary grades. PM1, Harris said, is the baseline measure that shows "how our students come into our classrooms."

The presentation covered K'2 through 12 results, test-choice effects on reported proficiency and comparisons to last year's cohorts. Harris said kindergarteners taking the early literacy measure came in about 1 percentage point higher than last year, but cautioned that the kindergarten cell labeled 29 percent represented only seven students in Brevard. "That data at 29 percent, that makes up 7 students," she said. She also said more first-graders moved from the early-literacy measure to the grade-level reading assessment this year, which complicates simple year-to-year comparisons.

Harris flagged a pattern the district has observed for several years: Brevard's students often enter the year holding pace with high-performing districts but lose relative ground between PM2 and PM3. "It's between PM2 and PM3 where Brevard starts to lose some ground in growth and student achievement," she said, adding district leaders are urging schools to maintain a "year's worth of growth" even when students begin the year stronger than the prior cohort.

On elementary math, Harris described encouraging signs in K'2 that she attributed to streamlined math blocks and targeted professional development. She credited the elementary programs team for immediate work on multiplication in third grade, an identified gap that affects later topics such as division and fractions. "That continued to be an area that was a gap and teachers trying to just fill it in," she said.

Harris also discussed how course placement and test choice affect grade-level reporting. For example, seventh-grade students in the district's MJ Advanced course are assessed on a mix of seventh- and eighth-grade standards; differing district practices statewide meant Brevard's historical reporting sometimes undercounted advanced students who take higher-grade assessments. Harris said roughly 300 fewer seventh graders took the regular seventh-grade math assessment this year while 400 more eighth graders took Algebra; 550 fewer students took eighth-grade pre-algebra. "Parents did have to sign saying I understand my child's taking a seventh grade MJ advanced course and that they will be taking the eighth grade state assessment," she said.

The board moved from results into a districtwide review of the assessment calendar and the total minutes students spend taking district and vendor assessments. Harris and staff reported they had been using maximum-possible minutes when submitting testing-time estimates to the state. After benchmarking dozens of Florida districts, they found broad variation in what other districts record as testing time. In many cases a district listing of "up to 90 minutes" led to actual average student times closer to 30'60 minutes, depending on grade and assessment. Harris gave examples: I-Ready diagnostics average about 30 minutes per subject in kindergarten and first grade and 40'60 minutes in grades two through five; grade 6 averages about 60'75 minutes. She also said some districts list totals that include proprietary or district-created assessments, producing totals that range widely (she cited an example of 1,140 minutes reported by one county for third grade).

Board members pressed for clarity about which assessments are optional or targeted (for example, intensive-reading diagnostics, alternative third-grade assessments and school-choice portfolio options), and how those items are counted in district minute totals. Harris said the district would submit revised, more realistic testing-minute estimates to the state and would provide the board the updated calendar. "We will be submitting both for your review, but also to the state that reflects a little more accurate than not just the max minutes possible," she said.

Harris outlined several curricular and vendor items the district is pursuing to improve early literacy outcomes. She said the district plans a request for teacher training for a phonics-aligned resource called UFLI through the Lastinger Center at the University of Florida and described UFLI as "aligned to the science of reading" and as a resource some Brevard schools already purchase. "We want to implement that across the board," Harris said.

Board members emphasized balancing the need for timely diagnostic data with a desire not to "test more than we're teaching." Several members praised the district's data-driven approach while urging continued attention to how assessments are scheduled and used in classrooms.

The board requested a cohort analysis comparing the same students across years (for example PM3-to-PM1 for the next grade) and said it wanted principals to continue using PM3-to-PM3 comparisons where appropriate. Harris said the district already conducts cohort analyses for principal data reviews.

Harris and staff identified immediate follow-up tasks: submit a revised assessment-minute calendar to the state and the board, seek approval and funding for teacher training in UFLI, continue monitoring the effects of course-placement choices on assessment reporting, and provide principals with cohort-level PM comparisons. No formal board vote was recorded; board members asked staff to bring back the revised calendar and training proposals at a future meeting.

Ending

The board recessed for a short break following the presentation. Staff said they will return with the revised testing-minute report and implementation details for the UFLI training request at a later meeting.