The district's director of curriculum, Danielle Harvey, told the school board on Nov. 4 that recent state assessment results showed a mixed picture across grade levels and subject areas and outlined steps the district will take to clarify expectations and support students.

"I'm excited to be able to share an update for our assessment results and our work on further instruction and assessment this year," Harvey said. She presented grade'level proficiency breakdowns for math and ELA (grades 3'8), noting that sixth, seventh, and eighth graders outperformed the state average in math in the most recent administration while third and fifth grade showed dips at some grade levels. For ELA, she highlighted continued strength in last year's eighth-grade cohort and said the district is forming a 3'6 language arts task force to support morphology and comprehension instruction now that more students are reading at grade level.

Harvey described Exact Path, the district's adaptive platform the district uses for remediation and skill building, and said Exact Path results showed growth between fall and winter administrations for grades 1'8 in both reading and math skill clusters. She explained the difference between skill-based measures (Exact Path) and application-based state assessments (which include multi-step items and evidence-based reading and writing tasks) and said the district uses modular assessments to give teachers standards-focused data after units.

On science, Harvey said teachers found that some classroom assessments and some curriculum assessments were not always sufficiently aligned to state standards and that the district's CIA (Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment) teams were validating and supplementing local assessments. "They were either having to supplement or having to redesign the assessment to truly meet that standard," she said, adding the district will convene a science task force to review instructional materials.

Board members asked several clarifying questions about cohort reporting versus grade-level snapshots, SAT benchmarks for 11th graders and how algebra II completion affects SAT performance. Harvey and Superintendent Eric Kelly told the board that algebra II course completion is a factor for the SAT math benchmark and that the report shared was a snapshot of the spring administration; the district also administers the PSAT to 10th graders and modular practice items for instruction.

Harvey said district supports include math look-and-learn classroom visits, professional development (OGAP, Building Thinking Classrooms, and Productive Struggle book groups), math coaching, and the creation of task'neutral rubrics so teachers share a common definition of proficiency. The district also plans student focus groups and faculty conversations about grading at the high school as part of work to clarify competencies and grading practices.

Ending: District leaders said they will continue to share additional disaggregated data, convene the task forces, and return with refined rubrics and recommendations for curriculum materials and targeted interventions.