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Superior School District details Act 20 rollout and posts modest gains on state report cards
Summary
District administrators told the board the district has trained teachers under Wisconsin's Act 20, adopted Benchmark Advance as the core literacy resource and showed modest year-over-year gains on state assessments; officials cautioned participation and assessment changes complicate comparisons.
The Superior School District on Monday updated the board on implementation of Wisconsin's Act 20 literacy law and recent state assessment results, saying training and a new reading resource are beginning to show benefits but also require additional teacher planning time.
Administrators reported the district selected Benchmark Advance as its core literacy resource this fall and has trained school leaders and teachers as required under the law. "We have trained 13 administrators and more than 156 teachers," the district said in its presentation, which noted training costs run roughly $1,000 per teacher and that the mandate was unfunded.
District leaders said the resource strengthens phonics and writing instruction and better aligns reading with science and social studies content. Crystal Hintzman, the district's director of curriculum and instruction, said coaches and shared leadership teams are supporting teachers through the change. Two classroom teachers who used Benchmark Advance described richer content and integrated writing but said the new units require more upfront planning and navigation of online materials.
The district also reviewed Forward Exam and ACT results from the most recent reporting year. Presenters said fourth-grade math proficiency rose to about 50% (a 2-point gain) and that some grade bands showed measurable growth on the ACT. The district emphasized that participation rates and changes to tests since the pandemic make strict year-to-year comparisons difficult, and noted Cooper School was singled out as "significantly exceeding expectations" on the state report card.
Board members asked about support to ease teachers' planning burden; district staff said additional PLC and professional-development time is being scheduled. The administration said it will return in January with continuous-improvement scorecard metrics and next steps to support buildings.
The board approved the district academic and career plan and the Spartan Library Plan during the same session; those approvals are routine, required items the board authorized to proceed to the regular meeting for final adoption.
