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District highlights new data meetings, LinkIt and screening efforts to target reading support
Summary
Elementary and secondary leaders described a stepped-up approach to benchmark and individual data meetings using LinkIt, a school-wide assessment team (SWAT) and progress monitoring to identify students who need intervention or enrichment.
Mr. Humber told the committee the district has sharpened its data-meeting process to move from data collection to data-driven instruction, using grade-level benchmark meetings and individual student data meetings to shape instruction and interventions.
Humber said benchmark assessments are administered three times a year (fall, winter and spring) to measure standards and trajectory toward proficiency. He said the district switched assessment-management software to LinkIt to make graphs and longitudinal comparisons easier and to spend more meeting time on instruction rather than spreadsheet preparation.
"We're really talking about a systematic, analysis process," Humber said, describing grade-level meetings that examine whether instruction changes have produced growth and which student groups are exceeding or struggling. He said common examples include tracking literature and informational-text standards in English/language arts and targeted areas such as geometry in math.
Humber described individual data meetings as the forum for teachers to advocate for specific students and to design small-group interventions or refer students to reading specialists and, when necessary, special-education evaluation. He and other speakers described foundational assessments used in early grades (letter naming, letter-sound fluency, pseudo-word decoding) and noted the district's "SWAT" (school-wide assessment team) in-person screenings used for foundational skills.
Administrators said the district started progress monitoring this week for students receiving interventions and that the next major benchmark window is in November. They reported early signs of growth in areas such as word-recognition fluency for first grade and said kindergarten programs focus on letter sounds as the foundational skill for reading.
Humber told the committee teachers are engaged and passionate about the work and said the district is also planning enrichment for students who are above grade level.
The district uses iReady for diagnostic screening and LinkIt for benchmark aggregation; some foundational screenings remain person-to-person. Administrators said the new process is a "next level up" from last year and that they will return with further updates.
