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Shawnee Heights reports districtwide growth on FastBridge; gaps remain in some subgroups and grades
Summary
District staff told the Shawnee Heights USD 450 Board that 2024–25 FastBridge reading and math data showed growth across most groups and grades, meeting the district'wide 70% target for grades 2—through 12 overall, while free-lunch and several grade-level cohorts trailed targets and will receive further review.
Shawnee Heights USD 450 staff presented the district'wide FastBridge reading and math results for the 2024'25 school year, reporting overall growth but persistent gaps among certain subgroups and two grade cohorts that missed spring targets.
Stacey Bell, district staff member, told the board that the district set a goal three years ago for 70% of students in grades 2'12 to score at or above the benchmark on FastBridge. "By the spring, 73% of our students in grades 2 through 12 were in the top two categories," Bell said. She described growth figures broken out by subgroup and grade and noted the district uses FastBridge trends to guide intervention placement.
The presentation said all student groups showed positive growth from fall to spring. Rebecca Hummer, district staff member, presented the math portion and described similar trends: "We met expected growth in most grade levels; second grade was just shy of the target and fifth grade ended the year meeting its target," Hummer said.
Why it matters: the FastBridge metric is one of Shawnee Heights' diagnostic measures used to set interventions and monitor progress. The district leadership team (DLT) settled on the 70% benchmark after multi'year discussion, and staff said meeting that target signals the interventions are having an effect for many students.
Key details presented to the board: - District goal: 70% of students in grades 2'12 at benchmark (top two FastBridge levels). Staff reported 73% districtwide in spring 2025. (Stacey Bell) - Subgroup movement: free-lunch students and some racial/ethnic subgroups showed larger growth than the district average in some cases, but the free-lunch subgroup also showed a 10-point drop in the top-two percentage at one reporting window; staff said free-lunch enrollment can vary during the year and that produces volatility in subgroup percentages. (Stacey Bell) - Grades below expectation: spring FastBridge results left second and fourth grades below the expected FastBridge benchmarks; second grade also uses a primary version of MAP earlier and then transitions to the standard FastBridge in second grade, which historically produces a score dip when students change formats. (Stacey Bell) - Math specifics: second-grade math rose from a fall score of 194 to a spring 204 but was 1 point short of the 205 target; fifth grade did not meet the winter benchmark but did reach the 218 spring target. (Rebecca Hummer) - High school exit options: students may exit FastBridge testing by achieving required scores on FastBridge or by meeting thresholds on PreACT/ACT; staff count students who meet any of those criteria when reporting the percent meeting the target. (Stacey Bell)
Board members pressed for more granular data and context. A board member asked whether staff could break down free-and-reduced lunch results by race/ethnicity and by how long students have been in the district. Bell said district staff will explore whether the data can be disaggregated further while protecting student privacy. "Once we start breaking it down that far, we start to run into identifiable information. I'll play with it this summer and see if we can," she said.
Board members also asked for counts alongside percentages. "It might help us to actually show how many students are in each of these subgroups," one member said; Bell said staff will add subgroup counts and note how many students are already receiving interventions.
On interventions, staff said high-risk students are enrolled in targeted supports such as Read 180, Just Words, special education services, or building-level tiered interventions; elementary math interventionists are not currently in place districtwide, so elementary math supports typically consist of classroom interventions and special-education services.
Next steps and follow-up: staff said they will continue to monitor FastBridge national-norm updates, provide the board with subgroup counts and intervention status, and continue DLT conversations to target supports. They emphasized that some small subgroup percentages can swing markedly when only a few students enter or leave the cohort.
Board members thanked the presenters for the data and asked staff to return with itemized subgroup counts and information on which students are receiving interventions. The district will continue using the FastBridge results to guide planning over the summer and into 2025'26.
