District midyear tests show gains; board asks for disaggregated data and cross-site sharing

Roxanne Lee, the district instructional coordinator presenting MOI/MOI testing data, told the board that compared with the beginning of the year the district saw midyear growth in several measures: "district wide from beginning of the year to middle of the year, we had an 8% growth in reading, we had a 3% growth in language and we had a 4% growth in math." She gave grade-level breakdowns showing larger gains in some grades and noted areas of decline at specific grade levels.

Board members challenged the presentation methodology: one member observed that the district's published percentages treated each school equally rather than weighting by student population and recommended staff present student-weighted figures next time. Members also asked presenters to show raw counts rather than percentages and to disaggregate results by school and standard so higher-performing sites' practices can be shared across the district. Presenters described IXL usage data and benchmarks, and discussed how IXL's "smart score" and benchmark windows are used for monitoring and targeted tiered interventions.

District instructional leaders said they would present disaggregated data and consider alternative presentation formats at future meetings. Board members emphasized using professional development days and PLC time to disseminate successful classroom practices—particularly where one school's fifth-grade reading results exceeded another by more than 20 percentage points.