Board hears gifted‑education update and district assessment gains under ELG grant

Steamboat Springs — At the June 16 school board meeting, district staff detailed progress on gifted education and a multi-measure assessment update that officials said shows notable growth in early literacy and math across elementary and middle schools.

Kristen Atwood, the district’s Director of Exceptional Student Services, summarized the year for gifted education and staffing changes, saying the district currently identifies 264 students at the gifted level districtwide — including 160 at Steamboat Springs High School, 78 at the middle school and 23 at Sleeping Giant Middle School — and that staff positions are being reallocated to increase student-facing supports. "We are moving from 3.5 FTE student-facing to now next year all 4 staff members will be student facing," Atwood said.

Atwood described cluster grouping (placing multiple higher-performing students together within specific classrooms) as a strategy used at middle school to concentrate support and allow targeted use of an additional 0.5 resource to support those rooms. She also described mentorship pilots with local professionals and said the district plans to recruit for two open gifted positions in the fall.

On screening and identification, Atwood said the district piloted the Naglieri universal screener but that staff "have found that it's not showing the most valid of results." She said the district will consult new gifted educators and Colorado Department of Education (CDE) experts and may use the CogAT with a Naglieri subtest as a two‑layer approach, while recognizing the trade-off in cost and staff time.

District data presentation Dr. Tim Ritter presented district assessment results tied to the Early Literacy Grant (ELG) and vendor products (DIBELS, i‑Ready, NWEA). He reported declines in the share of students classified as "well below benchmark" in DIBELS at elementary grades and said all schools met the ELG growth goals. For K–5 DIBELS, Ritter cited an example: beginning‑of‑year proficiency at 55 percent and 74 percent of students making above‑average or above progress in one reported table.

Ritter highlighted reductions in students two to three grade levels below in math (one figure moved from 14% to 3% in a described band) and said i‑Ready ELA and math numbers were generally at or above 70% typical growth nationally. He and Celine Wicks credited the ELG grant, curriculum alignment, teacher professional development, and intervention structures such as three‑week PDSA cycles for reading instruction.

Board questions and next steps Board members asked about sustaining work after the ELG grant sunsets; Ritter and staff described transition plans including principal and coach training, district‑level supports, and peer collaboration. The district plans to share benchmark and state assessment (PSAT, SAT, CMAS) data disaggregated by special populations in August and to pilot curricular resource adoptions in grades 4–8.

What stayed the same and what’s next Staff said improvements were visible in K–3 literacy and in middle school math growth; the board asked for continued emphasis on teacher training and identification processes for twice‑exceptional students. The district will continue hiring for gifted positions, refine screener selection with CDE input, and report more disaggregated state benchmark data at future meetings.