Easton Area SD presents end‑of‑year literacy and math results; kindergarten pilots show gains

Easton Area School District instructional staff and literacy leaders presented end‑of‑year assessment data at the board meeting, reporting mixed results across grades, notable kindergarten gains at Paxinosa Elementary after introducing Enhanced Core Reading Instruction (ECRI), and next steps to preserve instructional time and expand effective practices.

Mike Cook and Jennifer Hilton, presenting as part of the district’s CNI team, summarized three primary measures used this year: Acadience (K‑2 foundational literacy risk screening), STAR reading and math (computer‑adaptive scaled growth), and IXL diagnostics (skill‑level diagnostics linked to individualized practice). Cook said STAR gives a scaled score that adapts to student responses and produces both benchmark percentages and student growth percentiles (SGP).

Key results presented on the record included Acadience kindergarten results that rose from 53% at the beginning of the year to 74% at year end for students at or above benchmark. Jennifer Hilton highlighted Paxinosa Elementary’s kindergarten work: the Paxinosa cohort moved from 38% at the beginning of year to 83% on track at year end after local application of ECRI delivery practices; presenters noted Paxinosa kindergartners also achieved strong whole‑word counts on a screening measure (Paxinosa end‑of‑year whole‑word reading: 75% of kindergarten students read at least three whole words in the cited measure).

District first‑grade Acadience figures increased from 50% at the start of year to 62% at year end. Presenters characterized that as modest progress and noted first grade requires assessing connected text and comprehension, which raises expectations and can reduce the percentage meeting benchmark even as skill improves.

STAR results showed varying changes by grade. Presenters reported a roughly 5 percentage‑point increase in grade 3; small declines or near‑parity in some elementary grades; and larger increases in middle grades, including a 10 percentage‑point increase for the cohort now in seventh grade compared with that group’s prior year performance, and a 6 percentage‑point increase for current eighth graders. In mathematics, the district reported notable increases in several grades: current fifth graders moved from 37% to 42% at or above benchmark, sixth graders from 38% to 41%, seventh graders from 37% to 49%, and eighth graders from 41% to 49% (numbers presented by district staff as comparisons between the same cohort year‑to‑year).

District presenters said the rollout of multiple new curricula this year (including a new Reveal Math program and a new Wonders ELA adoption) did not produce the implementation dip the district feared. Next steps described by the CNI team include focusing on preserving core instructional time in master schedules, increasing fidelity to the approved core curricula (the “80% rule” for Tier 1 instruction), expanding ECRI implementation from Paxinosa’s kindergarten to first grade and to Chestnut kindergarten, deploying curriculum‑aligned unit assessments in addition to STAR and IXL, and tailored professional development based on a staff survey of roughly 450 teachers.

Board members asked for presentation materials in advance in order to review data before the meeting and noted remaining concerns about the number of students not yet at grade level. Staff said they will provide materials, publish recordings and continue district‑level and micro‑level (building and teacher) analysis through MTSS processes. Presenters also reiterated plans to use assessment data diagnostically and to assign individualized IXL skill plans to address student needs.

No formal board action was taken on the data presentation; the update was informational and followed by committee and board questions.