Superintendent reports limited test participation, new literacy plan and curriculum review changes

Jody, a district administrator presenting data in the superintendent's report, told the Todd County School District 66-1 board that the I-Ready and MAP assessments included in the board packet represent a single diagnostic data point and that participation on MAP, in particular, was low.

"This is one data point. It is predictive of what we might see on the Smarter Balanced assessments," Jody said, but cautioned the board not to overinterpret results because many students did not take the assessments at the scheduled times.

Jody outlined the district's draft K–8 literacy plan, which staff developed using the state model. The plan, she said, was rolled out to staff but the district has not yet collected consistent classroom-level data to measure implementation. "We said we're gonna collect this data and then we didn't," she said, describing staff overwhelm and the district's focus on balancing teacher workload with data collection.

Administrators also described work to align grade-level expectations (GLEs) and to incorporate an orthography into classroom practice. Jody said staff created surveys and walkthroughs to compare what teachers report on lesson plans with what is observed in classrooms.

On curriculum review, Jody told the board the district will shift emphasis from just adopting new materials to ensuring curriculum is taught with fidelity. She said some newly adopted programs, including elementary math, faced implementation challenges because teachers did not receive enough ongoing training. "It's not about the curriculum. It's about the instruction of the curriculum," Jody said.

To address middle-school reading gaps, the district contracted with Imagine Learning and assigned six certified teachers to provide daily half-hour interventions for groups of students identified as two or more grade levels behind and with good attendance. Jody said that intervention work had started recently and that data on its effectiveness were not yet available.

Superintendent Nancy Drew Stafford also reminded board members that elementary principals will present at the next meeting and that middle- and high-school achievement items will follow at the February meeting. Board members asked for additional monthly activity reports from department directors and requested a two-year report on the district's four-day school week at the end of the school year.

The board did not take any votes on curriculum policy changes at this meeting; Jody said changes to the district's curriculum review policy would require updates to the policy itself before any deviation from current procedures.