Creighton Elementary District staff told the school board on Aug. 16 that they have renormed interim benchmark cut scores using a local Renaissance DNA study of district students to improve alignment with the state AASA assessment.

Presenting staff said the change responds to a recurring problem: under the district’s old 40/60/80 cut scores, early-year benchmarks had only about a 0.5 correlation with AASA outcomes, a level staff called too low to be reliable for progress monitoring. “We worked with our leadership team over the summer to come up with the measures and then also looked at our DNA cut scores,” Presenter (Speaker 1) said, adding the district now seeks at least a 0.6 correlation.

Why it matters: Staff argued a higher correlation will make interim results more representative of where students are likely to land on the state test and make early instructional pivots more effective. Tyson (Speaker 5), who walked the board through a correlation analogy, emphasized that correlation shows a likelihood—not causation—so stronger early alignment allows teachers to set more attainable, measurable short-term goals: “It’s how closely the two things are related,” he said.

What staff presented: The district commissioned Renaissance to analyze about 500 eighth-grade math records and other grade-level data from the May 2025 results, producing renormed cut-score bands that lower early-year thresholds so fewer students appear in the lowest category early in the year. Staff produced side-by-side visuals showing the old 40/60/80 distribution—what presenters called a “sea of red”—and the renormed distribution that yields more varied categories (yellow/green/blue) and, they said, higher correlations with later AASA scores.

Board and public questions centered on interpretation and communication. Board members asked how an early test percentage (for example, 42% on an early benchmark) should be explained to families; staff urged care in public messaging and recommended visuals that describe the relationship among the district’s interim benchmarks, FastBridge screeners and the AASA. Presenter noted kindergarten remains on FastBridge and cannot be correlated to AASA until an aligned mimic exists, and staff said they will continue to develop communication materials for families.

Next steps and fidelity: Staff said the renormed cut scores and the interim measures that rely on them will be on the agenda for the board’s next regular meeting and recommended several implementation steps—additional practice with more-comprehensive Renaissance items later in the year, teacher-facing test talks, and student-facing progress graphs. The district also plans to re-run Renaissance renorming annually to keep cut scores current.

The board asked staff to plan parent-facing visuals that explain assessment differences and to include sample language for two-way communications before public rollout. The board did not vote on the cut-score changes at the study session; staff said formal adoption will be on the next meeting agenda.