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Ames board approves two intervention courses for Ames High
Summary
The Ames Community School District board approved two semester-long intervention courses at Ames High School meant to build literacy and math skills using existing MTSS staff and assessment data; the courses will award elective credit and exit students once data shows skill gains.
The Ames Community School District Board of Directors on Aug. (date not specified) approved two intervention courses at Ames High School aimed at strengthening students' literacy and mathematics skills.
The courses, Foundations of Literacy: Reading and Writing and Mathematical Reasoning: Quantitative Foundations, are designed as semester-long interventions that use screening and course assessment data to identify students who need additional support. "The idea would be to use the assessment data, identify the students, pull them into, at a minimum, a semester long intervention in order to build their skills," the associate superintendent said during the meeting.
The board was told the courses will be staffed using existing MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) personnel and do not require additional hires or new curriculum purchases at this time. "They're not requesting any additional staffing, and they have not made a request at this time for any additional curriculum purchases," the associate superintendent said.
Students who complete the interventions will receive elective credit; staff emphasized the courses are intended to build missing skills rather than serve as credit recovery for failed classes. "The credit that students would earn would not be a credit from a failed previous course, but rather elective credit associated with this intervention," the associate superintendent said.
Board members asked about mid-semester entry and credit issuance. The associate superintendent said the district currently does not plan to accept many mid-semester entrants because credit issuance would need to be worked out: "We would need to work through the challenge of ... the amount of credit. To be frank with you, we would have the assessment data that we need ... but we would need to work through credit issuance, essentially." The presenter also said some enrolled students may be passing their current courses but still eligible for the intervention because they are missing key skills.
The board voted to approve the new courses; the motion passed unanimously.
Board members and staff said the program aligns with district MTSS work and broader goals to increase student achievement and attendance by providing targeted instructional supports.
The district said details about rostering, credit mechanics, and any mid-semester admissions will be refined before implementation.
