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Woodland CCSD 50: Reading scores rebound from pandemic but math recovery lags, district says
Summary
At an Oct. 24 board meeting, district assessment lead Dr. Sherry told the Woodland CCSD 50 board that 2024 Illinois Assessment of Readiness results show gains in language arts toward pre-pandemic levels while mathematics has not yet recovered; board members requested follow-up data and implementation steps.
Dr. Sherry, the district's assessment presenter, told the Woodland Community Consolidated School District 50 board on Oct. 24 that 2024 Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) results show a rebound in language arts proficiency but continued shortfalls in mathematics.
"When we compare our data this year in 2024 to 2019 in language arts, we have recovered our pre-pandemic numbers in four of the grade levels," Dr. Sherry said during the presentation. She reported districtwide improvements: ELA proficiency rose to 36.8 percent from 30.5 percent, and overall proficiency rose to 26.3 percent from 24.8 percent.
By contrast, Dr. Sherry said, none of the grade levels have yet fully recovered to 2019 proficiency levels in mathematics. She described national research showing students are, on average, about half a year behind in mathematics and about a third of a year behind in reading compared with pre-pandemic cohorts.
The presentation included cohort-growth measures and correlations between the district's diagnostic tool (I‑Ready) and the IAR (cited correlations of about 0.79 for ELA and 0.85 for mathematics). Dr. Sherry said the district will use diagnostic and standards-aligned curriculum work, targeted professional development and principal supports to strengthen math instruction and continue ELA gains.
Board members asked for more detailed background data. One member requested an explanatory page about how the state constructs cohort-growth percentiles; Dr. Sherry agreed to provide the requested breakdown and follow-up reports showing benchmark-level performance and cohort definitions.
Dr. Sherry also noted that the district is tracking growth at multiple grade-to-grade transitions and that, while some cohorts show rebound as they advance grades, mathematics rebound is weaker than in ELA. She tied planned instructional work to a recently approved K–5 curriculum revision contract the board approved under the consent agenda.
The district plans to publish the detailed 2024 report and make the assessment dashboard available online; Dr. Sherry said she will circulate the additional explanation pages to the board when the embargoed state data are released.
