Tooele school leaders present fall benchmark results, set early‑learning goals and roll out data dashboards

Tooele County School District staff on Wednesday presented fall benchmark results and proposed early‑learning targets, telling the Board of Education the data show room for growth while offering tools for teachers to track progress.

The presentation by assessment director Andy Peterson and district leaders laid out beginning‑of‑year Acadience (K–3 reading and math) and RISE (grades 4–8 interim) results, and described district goals to raise proficiency in targeted early grades. Peterson said kindergarten begin‑of‑year proficiency has fallen slightly over the past three years, while first‑through‑third‑grade beginning‑of‑year scores have improved. The district is proposing a 15 percentage‑point increase in first‑grade proficiency and a 25 percentage‑point increase for kindergarten by year end as stretch goals.

Why it matters: Board members said the benchmarks and goals matter because they are the first step in identifying where instruction and interventions must change. The district emphasized that fall benchmarks are baseline measures not an end point — many students are expected to score below grade level at the start of the year — and that the benchmarks are used to target instruction and monitor growth through the year.

Key details from the presentation: - Acadience is administered in K–3 for literacy and in math for K–3, with Acadience reading continuing for older students not yet proficient. District leaders said Acadience testing frequency is three times per year (beginning, middle, end). - For grades 4–8 the district administers RISE interim assessments in math and a narrowed informational‑text literacy interim. Peterson noted interims use the same four‑point scale as summative tests, which makes comparisons easier. - The district described a diagnostic flowchart approach for math interventions: benchmark identifies students “approaching” or “below,” a diagnostic tool clarifies the specific skill gap and staff match targeted lessons to close that gap. - A new data dashboard (Qualtrics dashboards already live for leadership) and an upcoming teacher‑level platform (EduCLIMBER) will let teachers access student results more quickly; EduCLIMBER pilot work may begin in January and could be extended districtwide after training.

Board discussion and follow up: Board members raised questions about turnaround time (staff said benchmark results are effectively real time for ELA passages and returned as soon as a student submits responses) and about teacher access and capacity. Leaders said one district goal is to make the dashboards easier to use so teachers can access and act on data without significant additional workload. Peterson and other staff said the assessment framework is intended to reveal growth across the school year and year‑to‑year trends, not to single out teachers.

Context and next steps: District staff said the district will continue to align strategic goals and implementation plans to the benchmark framework; staff asked board members to schedule time to review the full dashboards. The presentation included examples of early learning strategies and a request that the board consider the proposed goals as stretch targets to guide the year’s work.

Ending: District staff said they will bring additional detail on the early learning plan and the teacher‑level EduCLIMBER rollout in future meetings and invited board members to scheduled demos of the dashboard.