Waunakee subcommittee: i‑Ready winter results strong overall, math growth lags
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
Curriculum subcommittee reviewed winter i‑Ready results showing about 74% of grades 5–8 at or above the 50th percentile in ELA and 77% in math, but presenters warned growth measures show reading meeting targets while math growth fell below the national median, flagging math for attention this spring.
The Waunakee Community School District curriculum subcommittee reviewed winter i‑Ready assessment results on Feb. 16, and presenters told members overall achievement was above national medians while math growth trailed expectations.
At the presentation, Amy Johnson and Tim Shell said 73.6% of students in grades 5–8 scored at or above the 50th national percentile in ELA this winter; math for the same grades was reported at 77.4%. The presenters cautioned those achievement percentiles are based on national norms rather than state proficiency cutoffs and are intended as leading indicators for spring testing.
Tim Shell explained the district also looks at growth targets, which compare fall-to-winter performance. Growth targets are normed so that nationally about half of students meet the expected gain; the district aims for at least 50% of students meeting growth. Shell said the data show reading growth above the 50% target but math growth below it, a pattern the district observed last year and plans to monitor going into spring testing.
The presenters described a district focus on a ‘‘target group’’ (the lowest quarter based on the prior year’s state assessment) and said they want that cohort’s growth to match or exceed growth for other students. Shell said the district uses tiered instruction and pull‑out supports for students in lower performance bands and that personalized learning tools on the i‑Ready platform can be assigned to support individual needs.
Board members asked about how percentile results relate to grade‑level proficiency. Presenters noted two ways to define grade level—population median versus a higher college-and-career readiness benchmark—and said i‑Ready’s grade‑level benchmarks typically sit above the 50th percentile because they align with a college‑and‑career readiness threshold.
The district will revisit fall‑to‑spring growth after spring i‑Ready testing and said it will share the full report with the full board; no policy action was taken at the subcommittee meeting.
The subcommittee adjourned after the presentation.