Saline Area Schools details curriculum, staffing and social-emotional plans; flags math gender gap on state test

Saline Area Schools district officials presented an annual fall continuous-improvement update to the Saline Area Schools Board of Education on Sept. 30, describing academic and social-emotional priorities, staffing changes and areas the district will monitor during the school year.

The presentation, led by Cara Davis, the district's teaching and learning lead, summarized four parts of the district's improvement cycle and highlighted work on Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), curriculum review and professional development aimed at improving Tier 1 instruction.

"We revised the language slightly, to incorporate increased student mastery in all content areas for all students and subgroups by improving the quality and consistency of tier 1 instruction supported by aligned MTSS and PBIS practices," Cara Davis said of the district's academic goal. She added the shift was intended to make the goal broader and to include systemic work on MTSS and PBIS.

Why it matters: the update outlines actions and investments that affect classroom practice, special education supports and multilingual students. Board members pressed for specifics about program implementation, costs and next steps on items that are being piloted or revised.

District staff cited several concrete changes and resources now in place. Jen Nelson, a literacy coach and instructional designer, told the board the district is in the second year of multiple curriculum-review cycles (social studies, secondary ELA, phonics, early childhood) and has completed math and science reviews. The district purchased a new data-analysis product, Schoolytics, to replace Illuminate, and has adopted UFLI (the University of Florida Literacy Initiative) for phonics instruction.

The district also reported staffing expansions that include an additional ESL-certified teacher, a dedicated MTSS coordinator at Heritage Elementary, and occupational therapists in every building under the SEA contract. The presentation noted the district used a "35j grant" to pay teachers for summer literacy training and to bring UFLI trainers to Saline.

On student outcomes, presenters noted areas of improvement and ongoing monitoring. Caroline Stout, the district MTSS coordinator, and Jen Nelson pointed to improved social studies M-STEP scores across tested grades and positive trends in science and WIDA English-language-proficiency outcomes. At the same time, the district said it is watching math outcomes and subgroup disproportionalities.

"When we were looking at our data, we've been monitoring our subgroup performances... sometimes it's a 10, Caroline and I actually looked at this more closely together, 20% gap between our females and males," Davis said, referring specifically to M-STEP results. Staff said they will triangulate that gap with other assessments (NWEA, Acadience) before proposing targeted remedies.

On social-emotional learning, the board heard the district broadened its SEL goal to "establish a consistent districtwide system that fosters comprehensive school safety by integrating restorative practices, trauma-informed approaches and proactive behavior supports." The district said SEL coaches now sit under the teaching-and-learning umbrella, and that advisory and community meetings are used to deliver scope-and-sequence lessons K–12. Dr. Ryan Kerr (DEI specialist) and Caroline Stout discussed training on restorative practices, threat assessment guidance and integration with PBIS.

Board members asked for details about which pilot programs were kept, revised or deprecated. Staff said some previously disparate phonics programs were replaced by a single UFLI foundation, and that Schoolytics will eventually replace Illuminate once implementation is complete. Beth Russo, secondary MTSS coordinator, described revisions to Homework Hive after attendance dips and said the district will revise the program rather than abandon it.

The presentation also included demographic context. Staff said district data show about one-sixth of Saline students receive special-education services and that the multilingual learner population has grown, prompting increased EL staffing and case‑load attention.

Board members asked about next steps and monitoring. Davis and other staff said they will continue to study multiple assessment sources, bring findings back to teacher leaders and the board, and pursue professional development (including literacy, NGSS science training and AP pathways) aligned to the identified needs.

District leaders closed by saying the work is systemic and multi-year and that the board will receive ongoing updates as data are monitored and programs are adjusted.