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Albert Lea board reviews CAKER draft; staff recommend moving from MCA to FAST assessments
Summary
Tanya presented the draft Comprehensive Achievement and Civic Readiness (CAKER) report: early-reading fall benchmark fell short of the target (47% vs. a 54% goal), preschool-to-kindergarten attendance hit 89%, and the district intends to emphasize FAST assessments over MCAs for more frequent data to guide interventions.
The Albert Lea Area Schools board received a draft Comprehensive Achievement and Civic Readiness (CAKER) report at its November meeting, with staff proposing new measurement practices and targeted strategies to close racial and economic achievement gaps.
Tanya (presenter) said the fall early-reading benchmark goal was 54 percent but the district measured 47 percent across kindergarten students. She described a recommendation to track some measures for students who attended district-run preschool programs separately when setting internal goals, but the board discussed whether that breakdown should be public. "It was just a question brought forward," Tanya said when asking whether the goal should focus on district preschool participants.
The presentation highlighted that 89 percent of students entering kindergarten had attended a preschool program (the district's target had been 83 percent), exceeding that goal. On broader assessment strategy, Tanya said the committee recommended shifting emphasis from once-a-year MCAs (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments) to more frequent FAST benchmark assessments, which provide K–12 data multiple times per year and allow schools to identify needs and intervene earlier.
Tanya described strategies tied to each CAKER priority area: expanding co-taught coursework for English learners, implementing academic interventions and culturally responsive pedagogy, revitalizing early-learning teacher observations and instructional rounds, and site-level implementation of high-reliability systems. She also outlined achievement-and-integration obligations: if goals are not met the district must spend 20 percent of A&I revenue on improvement efforts; success coaches currently make up a large share of that spending.
Board members asked for clarifications on data disaggregation, community partner outreach and next steps. Tanya said she will revise the draft with feedback and submit the final CAKER report by Dec. 15.
