Austin ISD reports districtwide decline in second‑grade students flagged for reading intervention; board accepts monitoring report

The Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees on March X accepted the superintendent's monitoring report on Goal Progress Measure 1.1, the district's second‑grade literacy intervention measure, after a presentation from district leaders on student screening data, programmatic supports and next steps.

The monitoring report showed that, comparing like assessment seasons, the proportion of second graders recommended for intervention on the NWEA MAP screener decreased for eight of 10 student groups from winter 2022–23 to winter 2023–24, district officials said. Superintendent Segura told trustees the district sees encouraging longitudinal declines from spring to spring while noting variability for small groups and the need for additional campus‑level root cause work.

Why this matters: The district ties second‑grade literacy work to a longer third‑grade reading goal that uses STAR as the accountability measure. Early screening and timely intervention are intended to reduce the number of students who require tier 2 and tier 3 supports, keeping more students in strong tier‑1 instruction.

District leaders framed the data and the district's response. Superintendent Segura summarized the goals: "The percent of third grade students earning meets grade level or above on the STAR reading assessment in English or Spanish will increase from 47 percent in June of 2024 to 59 percent by June of 2029." He said GPM 1.1 aims to reduce the share of second graders scoring in the MAP'recommended‑for‑intervention range (below the 30th national percentile in English; below the 40th percentile in Spanish) from 30…