River Falls elementary leaders report high fall screening percentiles, stress continued interventions under Act 20

River Falls elementary leaders and district instructional staff reported to the River Falls Board of Education that fall screening with AIMSwebPlus showed high percentile results in most grades after a national renorming of norms, but cautioned that the numbers are not directly comparable with prior-year data and do not mean the district will reduce supports.

Presenters told the board the district moved to AIMSwebPlus as its universal K–5 screener this year and completed fall testing late in the state window so many students received a week of additional instruction before screening. District staff said the AIMSweb renorming changed the cut scores used to identify students below the Act 20 threshold (the 25th percentile under the vendor’s new norms), which complicates comparisons with last year’s results. Because of those shifts, staff recommended treating the current scores as a new baseline rather than a straight year‑to‑year comparison.

Why it matters: Under Wisconsin’s Act 20 rules the district must create a reading plan for any student who scores below the specified percentile on the approved screener. District leaders emphasized that meeting the vendor’s percentile…