Creighton board approves math progress reports after interim benchmarks show many students still minimally proficient
Summary
The Creighton Elementary District board approved progress reports for two student-outcomes goals focused on math proficiency, while staff outlined instructional changes and data analyses after interim assessments showed a high share of students scoring minimally proficient.
The Creighton Elementary District board on Monday approved progress monitoring reports for two math-related goals after staff presented interim benchmark data showing a large share of students remain minimally proficient and outlined steps to change instruction.
District presenters said the district's Goal 1 seeks to reduce the percentage of eighth graders scoring minimally proficient on the state assessment from 73 percent to 48 percent. Staff reported interim benchmark findings and analysis, including a districtwide view that 68 students increased proficiency while 100 students decreased and 280 remained in the same proficiency band. Dr. Kim Dodds, the district's Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, told the board the DNA interim assessment aligns with the AASA assessment and has a correlation coefficient of about 0.7, which staff said indicated a useful measure for monitoring progress.
Dr. Dodds and her team pointed to several causes for current results, including cut-score realignments and question types that require multi-step open responses with no partial credit. "There was no partial credit aligned to that question," Dodds said of a specific item that appeared to suppress mastery rates on one standard. Presenters also flagged attendance and test nonparticipation as a data-quality concern.
To address the findings, staff recommended strengthening an existing 60–90 minute structured math block, using high-quality instructional materials, expanding small-group instruction informed by common formative assessments, increasing coaching and classroom observations, and using data tools such as EduCLIMBER to identify students who need targeted supports. District leadership emphasized that pace and sequencing of instruction were intentionally revised this year to move key standards earlier in the year so students have more time to spiral and retain material.
Board members asked whether resequencing standards or offering algebra at some sites affects accountability and comparability; staff answered that students in algebra still take eighth-grade common formative assessments and benchmarks for accountability. The board voted to approve the Goal 1 progress report (report #2).
The board also approved Goal 2 (report #2), a focused equity target that aims to raise AASA math proficiency among Black eighth-graders from 0 percent to 28 percent by August 2028. Staff presented subgroup analyses showing modest movement for some Black students but that, overall, the cohort was not yet on track to meet interim targets. Presenters described culturally responsive instructional inputs (a book-study for the math cohort, student-attitude surveys and leadership training through a partnership with Urban Connection) and said the district will continue targeted action plans at the school level.
Board members pressed for more explicit, school-level teacher observation data tied to specific students and asked for follow-up reporting in February on implementation steps and teacher feedback. The meeting closed with a vote approving the Goal 2 report.
