Stewartville district details REED Act rollout, K–12 standards-based grading and behavior pilot

Stewartville Public School District administrators on Monday described the district’s first-year implementation of the state REED Act, plans to expand dyslexia screening and interventions, and a multi-year shift to standards-based grading and reporting across kindergarten through 12th grade.

The presentation, led by Maggie Mayne, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction, and principals and assistant principals from elementary through high school, said 83 educators completed the REED Act’s Phase 1 training this year and the district finished five of the act’s nine core OLA modules. "I just want to say thank you very much for the five days that we added to the calendar for this," Mayne said, referring to professional development days that gave teachers time to collaborate on the new training.

Why it matters: The REED Act requires districts to provide screening, teacher training and interventions tied to early literacy. The district’s presentations showed how the new requirements are shaping classroom screening, family notification and plans for intervention and for reporting student progress to parents.

What administrators presented - Screening and screening tools: The district used FastBridge benchmark testing for universal screening in grades K–3 this year and applied a gated approach to dyslexia indicators (nonsense-word subtests) so that not every student received the dyslexia instrument unless indicated by earlier benchmarks. Administrators said the state will require screening for dyslexia characteristics in grades 4–12 next year; the district has not yet finalized which screener it will use for those grades. - Interventions and reporting: At the elementary level the district uses tiered interventions and a "what I need" (WIN) block to target students below grade level. Middle school uses a foundations-of-reading course; high school currently relies on special-education services for intervention and administrators said they will consider additional supports for secondary students as REED Act requirements expand. - Family notification: When a student scores below grade level the district sends a letter that lists benchmark scores, interventions the school will provide and suggested home strategies.

Standards-based grading and report cards Principals and district leaders described multi-year work to prioritize standards, develop unit plans and align assessments to learning targets. Jeff Johnson, principal at Bear Cave (middle school), said teachers identified priority standards and built pacing guides, learning targets and assessments so families see specific skills rather than only letter grades.

"We picked seven of those standards that we were going to say, these are our priority ones," Johnson said, describing the elementary work to reduce 21 reading standards into priority standards and aligned benchmarks.

The district intends to produce standards-based report cards for K–12 that present progress on priority learning targets. Administrators said they expect to unveil the district’s new standards-based report cards in September 2027.

Behavior reporting pilot: "Tiger" scorecard Secondary administrators described a plan to separate academic grades from behavior and to pilot a monthly behavior scorecard, called the Tiger score, in 2025–26. Tim Malone, assistant principal, said the district will report three nonacademic dimensions — accountable, respectful and engaged — using a 1–3 scale and will report those mid-quarter (about every 4.5 weeks) to families.

"We believe that the nonacademic part of their grade should not influence the academic part," Malone said. "The Tiger score provides meaningful feedback on how they are showing up to learn." He described a pilot this spring and a plan for full staff piloting in 2025–26, followed by further refinement.

Administrators said the Tiger scores will not be calculated into students’ academic percentages or transcripts; districts will use formulas inside Skyward, the student information system, to translate standards-based scores into letter grades for transcripts and GPA.

Special education considerations Helen Gale, the district’s special education coordinator, said staff are planning a tiered approach for standards-based grading to reflect students’ widely varying needs. For students on functional curricula teams will create learning targets tied to independent living and job skills; for students in general education with accommodations, the district will use adjusted expectations or co-teaching models.

"We really want them to be proactive and skill focused in helping students build appropriate behaviors while reducing those that interfere with learning and safety," Gale said, describing work on positive behavior support plans and aligning IEP goals to Minnesota standards where appropriate.

Implementation, timeline and supports Administrators credited multi-year work with consultants and peer districts, and said the calendar changes that added five professional-development days were essential. They said the district will run communications for families (newsletters, videos and sessions) to explain changes and that some components — notably the behavior pilot — are explicitly being tested and refined.

Votes at a glance (formal actions taken during the meeting) - Approval of the meeting agenda — motion carried, 7–0. (mover: Mr. Welch; seconder: Mr. Ravenhorst) - Consent agenda (items 6a–d) — carried; 6 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention (board member absent from administrative recommendations). (mover: Mr. Geiss/Geist; seconder: Mr. Laumann) - Resolution accepting donations (Granite Partners Foundation $500; Stewartville New Lions $300; Joyce and Larry Stacy $200; Stewartville American Legion $600) — carried, 7–0. (mover: Miss Kiefer; seconder: Mr. Geist) - Approval to discontinue SCSP 4.0 FTE positions as part of budget alignments — carried, 7–0. (mover: Mr. Welch; seconder: Mr. Ravenhorst) — board materials said some reductions will occur through attrition and some roles will be filled by teachers-on-call. - Wage adjustment for Brianna Probeck (returning Tiger Tem staff) — carried, 7–0. (mover: Mr. Laumann; seconder: Mr. Ravenhorst) - Resolution approving Minnesota State High School League membership (annual) — carried, 7–0. (mover: Mr. Geist; seconder: Miss Kiefer)

The meeting adjourned at about 7:54 p.m.

Ending note: District leaders asked for continued patience as the pilot and communications materials are refined and said family outreach will precede the broader rollouts planned for the next two school years.