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Litchfield reviews 2024'25 student achievement; district outlines literacy, math and assessment action plan
Summary
District staff presented preliminary spring 2025 AASA and AZELLA results and described targeted action steps: expanded literacy professional development (including LETRS), district-wide common summative assessments, Illuminate reporting, and math training with Graham Fletcher representatives.
Litchfield Elementary School District staff presented a summary of 2024'25 student achievement data at the board's Sept. 9 meeting and outlined a set of districtwide action steps focused on literacy, math and assessment practices.
Brian Owen, the district's director of assessment and accountability, told the board the district will present final state accountability (A'F) results in November but shared preliminary trends showing the district generally outperformed the statewide averages and narrowed the proficiency gap by about one percentage point. "What we'll do is share what we have for our results from the district," Owen said, noting the statewide files had not been released yet.
District staff described multiple assessment sources used to monitor progress and to plan instruction: Acadience (early literacy screening), I-Ready (middle-school diagnostics and individualized learning paths), Illuminate (district assessment and reporting), AASA (state summative testing), and AZELLA (English language proficiency). Presenters reported year-over-year gains on Acadience across most elementary grades, movement toward grade level on I-Ready diagnostics in math, and growth on AZELLA for multilingual learners.
Action steps outlined to raise achievement included: - Literacy: expand evidence-based K'5 instruction, increase daily fluency practice, continue district-supported LETRS training (the district reported it is one of the few in Arizona approved to provide the training in-district), and create teacher-led demonstration lessons so teachers can observe high-leverage classroom practice. - Math: build teacher capacity through targeted professional development, expand spiral-review materials aligned to pacing, strengthen number-sense routines, and scale fluency and discourse practices. The district has allocated seats for representatives to attend a multi-day Graham Fletcher training and will return that learning to district staff. - Assessment and data use: require common summative unit assessments (WONDERS unit assessments for K'5 ELA, StudySync for 6'8 ELA, I-Ready standards-mastery items for math, INSPIRE and Amplify unit assessments for science), improve district reporting through Illuminate, and use PLCs and guiding coalitions at each site to turn data into immediate instructional actions (re-teach, small-group interventions, or enrichment).
Staff emphasized that multiple measures are used together: benchmarks and diagnostics to predict needs and common summatives for short-cycle checks of instruction. Jennifer Larson, director of English language development, highlighted AZELLA gains and noted the district served a larger number of newcomers last year; she described increases in the writing and speaking domain proficiencies.
Board members asked for plain-language summaries staff can share with families that explain how data collection, professional development and classroom-level changes are connected to future A'F results. Staff said they will return with the final 2025 accountability data in November and continue building parent-facing communications that summarize the district's plan to improve proficiency and growth.
The presentation did not include formal board action but set a clear set of next steps for staff and principals to monitor implementation and report results to the board.
