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Seattle School Board reviews literacy and math baselines; staff to provide disaggregated data and fidelity plans
Summary
District staff presented baseline results for early literacy and middle‑school math using MAP, DIBELS and SBA measures; board members pressed for disaggregated reporting (IEPs, Native students, multilingual learners), clearer fidelity metrics and a deeper strategic-plan session in early 2026.
Superintendent Podesta and staff presented baseline progress-monitoring data for early literacy and for mathematics at a special Seattle School Board meeting that followed ceremonial oath-taking.
Staff said the district will use DIBELS (teacher-administered) and MAP (computer-adaptive) assessments for early literacy monitoring, with MAP serving as the top‑line second-grade measure. For the literacy baseline staff reported that 63% of the cohort met the grade‑1 MAP benchmark (reported RIT score ~171), while MAP growth analysis showed 66.2% of students did not meet the year-of-growth target. DIBELS results were higher in some classroom-administered measures: 74.2% of first graders met the DIBELS foundational benchmark and 66.6% of kindergarten students met the kindergarten DIBELS benchmark.
On math, staff said the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) will serve as the top-line measure for sixth-grade proficiency while MAP and interim SBAs inform earlier grades. Baseline figures presented included a fifth-grade SBA proficiency rate of 56.2% and a fourth-grade SBA proficiency rate of 62%; staff reported a fall MAP assessment predicting about 51.4% of current sixth graders will reach proficiency on the SBA by year-end.
Directors pressed staff for more granular, disaggregated reporting. Vice President Briggs and others asked whether "students of color furthest from educational justice" includes Native students and whether students with IEPs can be shown separately; staff said they can disaggregate by those subgroups and will provide tailored data in follow-up memos. Directors also sought clarity on the intensity and duration of science-of-reading training, coaching and how the district will measure fidelity of implementation for curriculum adoptions and multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). Dr. Torres Morales and Chief Accountability Officer Ted Howard described plans for curriculum-embedded assessments (CEAs), principal learning networks, coaching cycles and MTSS guidance intended to increase classroom-level application of data and interventions.
Superintendent Podesta said the district intends to keep progress-monitoring conversations tied to the draft strategic plan and to budget discussions so initiatives can be prioritized and resourced. Staff committed to additional analysis and written responses to board questions, with a deeper progress-monitoring session on math planned for a later date (staff indicated February and early‑2026 strategic-plan meetings for further detailed review).
No formal votes or ordinance actions occurred during the progress-monitoring portion of the meeting; board members signaled they expect recurring, disaggregated updates and clearer fidelity measures to track whether strategies produce sustained growth for historically underserved groups.
The board recessed briefly after the ceremony and adjourned at 7:34 p.m. after concluding the progress-monitoring discussion; the next regular meeting was noted as December 10.
