Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Assessment And Instruction topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District officials: ATLAS summative year is a baseline; Rogers outperformed state in many grades
Summary
Rogers curriculum leaders told the board the new ATLAS assessment is a baseline year not directly comparable to ACT Aspire; district officials said Rogers students outperformed state results in many grades and highlighted quarterly RPS benchmark data for real-time instruction.
District curriculum leaders told the Rogers School District Board of Education on Feb. 20 that the state's shift from ACT Aspire to the ATLAS assessment system means the 2024-25 year serves as a baseline and cannot be compared directly to prior results.
Karen Highfill, executive director of secondary curriculum and instruction, and Sarah Henry, executive director for elementary curriculum and instruction, described differences between the two systems: ACT Aspire was norm-referenced and aligned to college-and-career-readiness standards, while ATLAS measures performance against Arkansas State Standards. "It's a baseline year, and you can't compare them because they assess two different sets of standards," Highfill told the board.
Presenters said district fourth- and fifth-graders outperformed statewide averages in math, ELA and science for the current grade cohorts the district reported. Staff cautioned that interim ATLAS assessments can look low in early administration because interims are scored against end-of-year expectations; the results should be used to check pacing, rigor and curriculum alignment rather than as final measures.
The district also described an RPS quarterly benchmark system that is administered each grading quarter and produces teacher-level, kid-by-kid diagnostic data to guide immediate interventions. "The summative data from ATLAS is old data; this data, they can turn around and make intervention groups or they can accelerate a kid right there the next day," Highfill said.
Why it matters: Curriculum leaders characterized this year as a transition to a standards-based accountability system and emphasized the district's benchmark assessments as the primary tool for immediate instruction adjustments.
What board members asked: Members asked whether any district tests provide national comparison; staff said the ACT at the high-school level provides a national benchmark and noted Advanced Placement and Microsoft Office certification results as other comparative signals.
