Pennridge rolls out LinkIt benchmarks, proposes accelerated sixth-grade option and new middle school math curriculum

Dr. Scheid and Mr. Gersh presented a progress report on middle school mathematics, explaining results from a first-year rollout of LinkIt benchmark assessments in grades 6–8 and outlining curriculum and intervention plans.

Mr. Gersh described the district’s use of LinkIt as a data warehouse and benchmark platform aligned to state standards; the district administered benchmark form A (fall) and benchmark form C (midyear/end of midyear window) and plans to avoid over-testing students by limiting the number of benchmark administrations. He said all students in grades 6–8 took the grade-level benchmark for math (math 6, math 7 or math 8) regardless of their enrolled course to measure readiness on eligible content tied to the PSSA.

Gersh and teachers summarized results showing gains on some standards between benchmarks A and C and cautioned that some topic-level percentages reflect small question counts and should be interpreted carefully. He described LinkIt navigator reports, coach-led question-level analyses (including common wrong-answer patterns) and teacher dashboards used for targeted instruction.

Miss Whalen, a North Middle School math teacher, described how she and building leaders used the data to identify weak points, set an eight-week plan before the PSSAs and run data-team meetings to adjust pacing and curriculum. Coach Stacy Clemer was cited as assisting teachers by drilling down to question-level mistakes and helping craft targeted lessons.

Administrators described an accelerated sixth-grade "Math 6 Accelerated" option the district is planning: a heterogeneous grade-6 class for most students with a smaller homogeneous accelerated section for roughly the top 15% of students (district estimate) to provide faster pacing and advanced projects. Dr. Scheid said the district intends to use an objective rubric—drawing on historical PSSA scores, STAR benchmarks and LinkIt results—to determine eligibility, and that recent fifth-grade data (including a late-season LinkIt benchmark and the grade 5 PSSA when available) will be considered. The district emphasized that placement in Math 6 Accelerated would not preclude students from taking Algebra I in seventh grade if they demonstrate readiness later.

Teachers also described pedagogical changes and projects tied to the new curriculum: unit-based projects (census-data analyses, GPS/graphing, orbital-velocity problems, designing a zoo with OpenSCAD) and a math workshop for "bubble" students near proficiency; one classroom project uses a $10,000 simulated stock portfolio combined with Python scripting to pull live prices and let students build equations and graphs. Teachers said online, text-entry and drag-and-drop item types require explicit instruction and practice because students often struggle with written explanations and online entry.

Administrators said the district will continue professional development, expand common assessments in LinkIt, strengthen data teams and provide targeted interventions ahead of the PSSAs. No formal policy change or vote was taken at the committee; the presentation was provided for review and to inform next steps in scheduling and rubric development.