District introduces Amira reading screener for kindergarten'grade 2, staff stress it's a data point not a diagnosis

District staff presented an overview of Amira, an AI-supported K-2 reading screener required by state guidelines and implemented this year, explaining how the tool works and how results will be used.

The director of educational services said the screener runs in English and Spanish, uses a character called Amira to guide students through short oral reading tasks and records responses via a microphone. The program reports six component measures (decoding, phonological awareness, high-frequency words, background knowledge, structure/reasoning and vocabulary) and produces an overall risk indicator (green/yellow/red) for each student. Staff emphasized that Amira is a screening instrument and not a diagnostic tool: results will be combined with other formal and informal assessments such as running records and i-Ready to guide instruction.

Letters explaining the screener and its results have been distributed to schools; staff said parents will be informed about each child's outcomes and receive tips for supporting reading at home. Board members asked whether the screener is administered in Spanish (staff said yes) and whether students with IEPs must take it (staff said state guidance exempts some IEP students and participation can be determined by the IEP team).

Staff described next steps: teachers and administrators will review aggregated and student-level reports to plan targeted instruction; the district will continue using multiple data sources to identify students at risk and provide interventions. Teachers present at the meeting said they expect the screener will help target early supports when paired with classroom observations.