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Tempe Union reports ACT gains overall but flags gaps for English learners and students with disabilities
Summary
District teaching-and-learning staff presented four years of ACT/Aspire data showing Tempe Union overall above state averages, highlighted uneven proficiency and growth among English learners and students with disabilities, and outlined preparations for the new ACT enhanced assessment.
Tempe Union High School District teaching-and-learning staff reported that district ACT performance remains above state averages across content areas, but officials said English learners and students with disabilities show the largest gaps in proficiency and growth.
Dr. Lehi, who presented district ACT and Aspire results to the governing board, said the district’s average scale scores exceed the state in English, reading and math and that district-wide proficiency rates include 53% in ELA and 42% in math. "As a district we do exceed the state average," Dr. Lehi said.
The presentation covered four years of results since Tempe Union began administering the ACT in 2022, school-by-school variation, subgroup performance and growth measures. Dr. Lehi described the district’s approach to measuring growth using multiple prior data points and a propensity model and said that, while some schools posted gains, English learners and special-education subgroups lagged behind the district’s expected-growth distribution.
Why it matters: The data guide how the district targets instruction and support ahead of the new ACT Enhanced assessment, which Dr. Lehi said will shorten the test and change item formats. The district identified student groups that may need more targeted intervention before statewide testing.
Key findings and figures presented: - District proficiency: ELA 53% proficient; math 42% proficient (district-level figures presented by the presenter). - Benchmarks discussed: district cited benchmarks at scale scores around 22 for some content areas and 19 for others; presenter said the district average math scale score was 19.3. - Subgroups: English learners reported 0% proficient on the ACT proficiency measure described; students with disabilities increased from 4% to 8% proficiency year to year in the presenter’s slides. - Noted school changes: Tempe High School showed a reported increase in ELA proficiency (the presentation noted a rise from about 15 to 28 percentage points for Tempe High), which board members commended.
Planned adjustments and supports: The district said it will continue fall and spring Horizon practice assessments aligned to the ACT Enhanced, keep and expand practice resources and videos the district purchased, increase earlier and timed practice opportunities, and expand collaboration with WestEd and EL specialists. Dr. Lehi said the ACT Enhanced will reduce total testing time from about 175 minutes to about 125 minutes, shorten some sections (English from 75 to 50 questions, math from 60 to 48) and use shorter passages and item stems intended to increase time per item.
Board discussion: Members asked for disaggregated feedback and better survey outreach to ensure responses from subgroups such as EL and IEP students. Member Gutierrez Miller asked whether the student survey responses could be broken down by subgroup; Dr. Lehi said the student survey is anonymous and administered during advisory, and while response rates were strong she could not desegregate the anonymous survey without separate methods but recommended targeted outreach through special-education and EL teachers. Vice President Steele praised Tempe High’s gains and urged the district to examine successful practices for replication.
Ending: The board took no formal vote on the presentation; members asked staff to continue implementing the revised ACT plan and to follow up on subgroup outreach and supports.
