District 58 administrators told the board Oct. 27 that combined growth measures showed higher-than-expected ELA growth across many schools in 2024'5 and that math growth generally met expectations but lagged behind ELA.

Presenters said 77% of students met the district's projected ELA benchmark on the combined metric (IAR and MAP-derived measures). The district reported that overall growth targets (ECRA thresholds) were met in ELA (85 percent benchmark target; district achieved about 85 percent in ELA) and that mathematics growth trailed slightly (about 80 percent meeting expected growth under the district's combined metric). Presenters cautioned that the Illinois State Board of Education updated IAR cut scores for proficiency in 2025, which affects year-to-year proficiency percentages; growth metrics use consistent ECRA modeling and remain comparable across years.

Administrators described two middle-school math resources piloted this school year: Carnegie Learning (Bridges/Carnegie model) and Amplify/Desmos; district leaders said pilot classrooms will transition to Amplify in November so the pilot can be evaluated on a full year'length scope. The pilot involves the middle-school math department and three sixth-grade classrooms across the district. District staff said the pilot seeks to strengthen conceptual understanding in mathematics (not only procedural fluency) and will be evaluated by teacher and student rubrics and by longitudinal assessment growth.

The district also presented an analysis of student mobility showing that students who spent more than half of their schooling in District 58 had higher fall MAP percentiles than students with shorter tenure in the district. For example, kindergarten cohorts who remained in district showed notably higher median percentiles than students who arrived after kindergarten. Board members requested additional analysis correlating chronic absenteeism and academic outcomes.

Ending: District staff said the Illinois school report card will be publicly released in late October/early November; the curriculum team will return with pilot evaluation results and recommended next steps for middle-school math at future meetings.