ISD 191 presents strategic road map dashboard; several schools identified for state support

Burnsville Public School District Superintendent Dr. Latonya Daniels and Amina Aftedal, the district's director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, presented an overview of the district's strategic road map dashboard at the Sept. 25 board meeting, including results from Minnesota's Northstar accountability system and next steps for targeted supports.

"The strategic road map dashboard was created to collect quantitative and qualitative data aligned to our strategic directions," Daniels said. Aftedal told the board, "And tonight, we will be sharing that overview of reporting for those metrics of the district's strategic dashboard." The presentation summarized which sites the state identified for improvement, explained statewide reporting differences, and outlined district intervention plans.

Aftedal said Edina Neal and Skye Oaks (transcript: Ed Neal and Skye Oaks) shifted from targeted to comprehensive support for the next three-year Northstar cycle because the subgroup of students receiving special education services did not meet exit criteria. Boz Burnsville Alternative High School and both district virtual academy sites were also identified for comprehensive or targeted support on measures that include academic performance, English learner progress and consistent attendance. Vista View Elementary was identified for academic performance and attendance measures related to students receiving special education services.

The district will receive state support coordinated through the Minnesota Department of Education and a partner coach from Minnesota Compass, Aftedal said, and those supports will emphasize completing a comprehensive needs assessment and applying MTSS decision-making protocols. Aftedal noted the district already holds a four-year MTSS grant that supported building those structures.

Aftedal presented district data showing little change in overall math and reading achievement at the district and statewide levels when viewed as three-year trends; she cautioned Northstar calculations use a specific enrollment rule that treats students who did not complete a state test as not meeting benchmark for the accountability calculation. She also highlighted a growth indicator that counts students who improved from not meeting to meeting benchmark: "Looking at math, we see about 30 percent of our students held their meeting benchmark status and saw at least a 12 percent of those students improved from the prior year's status," she said. In reading, she said, 17 percent of district students showed improvement and 33 percent maintained meeting benchmark.

On English learners, Aftedal said district progress was essentially flat year over year but noted a small districtwide increase and that the district is slightly ahead of the state on the measure. On attendance (defined in the presentation as attending 90% or more of enrolled days), she told the board the district saw a strong increase districtwide on that lagging indicator; because attendance is a lagging measure, the 2025 figure reflects the prior school year.

The presentation outlined priority strategies. For early literacy, the district is continuing PK foundational literacy coaching and observation protocols for administrators. For multilingual students, Aftedal described small micro-pilots at three sites to identify materials that support newcomers and students with emerging language skills. The district is expanding REDACT training: Aftedal said 52 staff participated in the current cycle and about 75 secondary staff are planned for the next.

For middle school math and reading, the district is implementing a structured FlexWin time and moving to the Exact Path diagnostic and intervention platform at grades 6-8 after using Study Island during the COVID period. Aftedal said Exact Path will generate individualized intervention and enrichment plans and that students will spend roughly 40 minutes per week in the program; the district will work with the vendor on a research study to measure fidelity and impact.

Aftedal also described the district's work to operationalize the Profile of a Learner. She said the district is mapping course-level assessments and artifacts to the profile's seven domains so students can select multiple artifacts for an ungraded portfolio hosted in the Xello college-and-career planning platform. "Students will then include all of the tools that are there in Xello, their interest surveys, their transcripts, their course planning," she said. The portfolio will be embedded within advisory work and have optional integration into courses such as English language arts and financial literacy; students will retain portfolio access after graduation by transferring materials to a personal email account.

Board members pressed for clarification on several details. Director Saksi asked how many students lack a Northstar participation score; Aftedal said she did not have that number at the meeting but can provide exact counts later. Directors noted attendance and opt-out/test-participation numbers as context for the accountability results and asked whether language-program successes could transfer to reading and math; Aftedal pointed to coaching and frequent formative assessment as district-wide practices to scale.

The presentation concluded with Aftedal saying the dashboard and related reporting will be shared throughout the year so the board and community can see progress against the district's strategic directions.

The board received the report; no formal action was taken on the dashboard itself during the meeting.