Duncanville ISD outlines early literacy plan as K–2 scores show midyear gains

Duncanville ISD staff told the school board the district’s early literacy initiative is yielding measurable midyear gains while also revealing instructional gaps the district plans to address before next school year.

"Kindergarten went from 7 percent at the beginning of the year to 31 percent at middle of the year," Miss Mullins said, summarizing I‑Ready results for K–2 and noting similar midyear increases in first and second grade. She reported pre-K CLI results rose from 69% to 74% at midyear.

Mullins said challenges include a foundational-skills resource that lacks systematic alignment to state standards and limited teacher capacity in phonological awareness and phonics. To address those gaps, she said the district will propose a new foundational resource for the 2026–27 school year, increase PLC and planning visits to support implementation, use classroom observations and tiered training for teachers, and host a summer early literacy symposium to prepare teachers for next year.

During the question-and-answer period, trustees asked about how younger students will be eased into third-grade testing rigor. Mullins and district leadership said digital-platform familiarity and higher-rigor tasks begin in second semester for second grade and that an additional benchmark in March will help build testing stamina.

The presentation provided concrete midyear numbers and specific next steps but did not include procurement timelines or exact vendor names for the proposed resource; those details were described as forthcoming.

Provenance: Early literacy statistics and planned actions were presented by Miss Mullins during the midyear workshop (presentation began SEG 352 and the implementation steps continued through SEG 415).