Susquehanna Township assistant superintendent lays out data and curriculum pilots as district seeks gains

The Susquehanna Township School District assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction presented fall diagnostic results and a multi-tiered plan to boost student growth and proficiency at the board’s Nov. 3 meeting. The presentation used MAP and other diagnostic measures to show where students entered the year and identified targeted curriculum work and professional supports the district is piloting to accelerate learning.

The assistant superintendent said roughly "about 50% of our kids" at one elementary were coming in on grade level for ELA and math and described year-over-year gains at the middle and high school levels, including an example in which high school ELA rose from the low 40s to the mid-50s in the fall diagnostic snapshot. The presenter emphasized that the data point was one of several the district uses to measure growth and that the administration focuses on growth (moving a student one year’s worth of progress) as the immediate target while working toward higher proficiency.

Staffing challenges and supports were central to the briefing. The assistant superintendent said current turnover is "about 11%" compared with higher rates in prior years and that a large share of the district’s teachers (59% across buildings) have five years or fewer experience. To address that, the district is expanding induction, mentoring and a differentiated supervision model that evaluates teachers on leadership, mentoring and ongoing work rather than a single formal observation.

On curriculum, the district has been reviewing K–12 core content and piloting materials in areas where gaps were identified. The presenter described a social studies resource being piloted to evaluate whether it is worth a full purchase; the cost mentioned as an order-of-magnitude was approximately $200,000 if adopted districtwide, and the board was told the pilot is currently free. The district also is continuing use of research-based interventions (95% Group for reading, IXL and Zearn for math) and adding targeted interventionists to support tiers 2 and 3.

Board members pressed for clarity on how the district aggregates and reports the diagnostic data, how long it takes to see return on professional development investments, and how English-language learners and other variables factor into the results. The assistant superintendent said growth timelines vary by teacher and student and committed to returning with updated data in spring after the next diagnostic collection.

The presentation closed with a pledge to continue transparent reporting and to present an updated staff/retention report in a later meeting. The district will continue piloting materials before committing to large purchases and plans further curriculum-writing work over the coming year.