Deputy Superintendent Tanya Constantine, Executive Director Sarah Hunter and Executive Director Scott Hare presented the district’s annual Comprehensive Achievement and Civic Readiness (CACR) report and the related Achievement & Integration overview.

Lede: District leaders said investments in teacher training and new curricula make it likely literacy scores will improve over the next academic year, and they announced a midyear rollout of CAPTi diagnostic assessments for grades 4–12 to provide more granular guidance for targeted reading interventions.

Nut graf: The presentation combined year‑over‑year MCA results, new curricular initiatives and a multi‑tiered system of supports (MTSS) strategy. Staff stressed that the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) science test was rewritten statewide and that 2024–25 results represent a new baseline rather than a directly comparable year‑to‑year change.

What district officials told the board: Constantine said the district’s elementary teachers have received extensive LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) training and that the new CKLA curriculum adopted this year provides more structured, evidence‑based literacy instruction. Hunter described plans for CAPTi diagnostics (described in the meeting as “Capti”) to give teachers midyear diagnostic subtests that better define students’ precise literacy needs; staff said the tool will be used as a targeted diagnostic, either districtwide or via a gate approach triggered by universal screener cut‑scores.

Assessment context: The presenters cautioned that the state’s redesigned MCA science assessment has no direct comparators to prior years. District results for the first year of the new science assessment were presented as a baseline (district 32% proficient in the initial administration, roughly 3–5 percentage points above the state baseline in the presentation). Staff said the new test emphasizes higher depth‑of‑knowledge skills and application rather than rote recall.

Gaps and successes: Presenters also reviewed subgroup performance. The district reported it outperformed the state average in many student subgroups in reading, math and the new science baseline. Staff highlighted pockets of strong performance — multiple elementary and middle schools in the district ranked in the top quartile among peers for specific subgroups — and said the district will study those sites for practices that can be replicated.

Board discussion: Trustees asked about the MCA redesign (especially for science), the importance of foundational knowledge for higher‑order tasks, and how much elementary science instructional time is available. Board members also requested more detail on CAPTi implementation plans and how diagnostic data will be made available to principals and teachers.

Bottom line: District staff framed CACR as a forward‑looking plan: investments in teacher training, curriculum adoption and diagnostics (including CAPTi midyear diagnostics) are intended to produce measurable gains in literacy and to support interventions across grades.