District reports winter diagnostic gains in ELA and math; kindergarten and third grade show notable improvements

District staff presented the winter administration results from local diagnostic assessments (I-Ready for many grades and MAP for certain grades and courses) and reported gains in both English language arts and math across most student groups.

Key findings: staff reported an average national percentile of 42.6 in ELA (up from the fall) and an increase in the districtwide proficiency metric from 26% in the fall to 39% in the winter (a 13-percentage-point increase). Kindergarten proficiency showed a large gain, from 21.8% to 50.4% (a 28.6-point increase). Staff said every student group increased their average percentile between fall and winter, with Hispanic and Pacific Islander groups showing notable percentile jumps.

Math results: the district reported an average percentile of 42.1 in math (up from fall). Staff highlighted strong gains in third grade (nearly a 10-point jump) and steady improvements in other grade bands. The district noted a 31.1% combined proficiency increase for Algebra 1 and transitional algebra (WIN) when comparing fall to winter local diagnostics.

By student program: students with disabilities and multilingual learners (ML) showed growth but remain behind peers in percentile distribution; staff reported special-education (SPED) percentile rising from 14.8 to 17.7 and ML showing a 5.4-point gain in math. Title I schools trailed non-Title I schools in average percentile but recorded increases from fall to winter in both subjects.

Assessment platforms and interpretation: staff explained testing platforms and grade/course coverage—K–8 ELA used I-Ready, some high-school ELA used MAP, and math testing covered grade 2 through algebra 1 (by course in high school). They stressed percentiles are normed nationally and are intended to show how district students compare to the national test-taking population. Staff also emphasized that individualized student-target growth analyses (used at school level) show many students meeting or exceeding their personal goals.

Board discussion: members asked for public-facing communications about positive trends; staff offered to arrange follow-up demonstrations of teacher-facing reports that break results down to standards (for example, basic facts and operations) and said teachers use those reports to plan instruction. Staff noted demographic shifts—growing ML population and high rates of neighborhood poverty—when explaining the district's context for progress.

Next steps: staff will continue monitoring growth, share spring assessment results when available and work with schools on targeted interventions and teacher capacity building.