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Cedar Springs presents midyear academic data, emphasizes systems to boost growth
Summary
District leaders presented midyear assessment results and a districtwide continuous-improvement plan centered on frequent diagnostics, targeted intervention blocks and building-level teams aimed at closing proficiency gaps and reducing failure rates.
Kristen, the district’s academic-services lead, told the Cedar Springs Public Schools board on Feb. 23 that the district is treating midyear assessment results as the basis for a systems-oriented improvement plan rather than a final judgment. The presentation explained how the district uses iReady diagnostics in K–8 (and IXL at the high school) alongside statewide assessments such as the M-STEP, PSAT and SAT to create more frequent, actionable touch points during the school year.
"You don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your system," Kristen said, summarizing the case for districtwide systems that produce repeatable interventions rather than one-off activities. She described monthly reporting and an RTI scheduler that flags students at or below about 70% so teachers can invite or assign students into targeted intervention blocks (referred to in different buildings as "wind time," "hawk time" or similar schedules).
Kristen highlighted that several grade levels are showing growth against state averages and that cohort tracking—following the same group of students year to year—reveals transitional dips (commonly between elementary and middle school). For high school, staff have added scheduled intervention time during the school day to reduce the number of students with multiple course failures; district staff said the initiative has begun tracking 1-failure counts this year so year-to-year comparisons will be possible next year.
Administration described the continuous-improvement framework as a monitoring tool: the district is reviewing capacity, implementation fidelity and reach to determine whether initiatives are applied broadly enough to move outcome measures. Dan Skollos of the AgMiner Group and data lead Ashvin were available as technical resources for board questions about K–5 reporting and diagnostics.
Board members asked for clarification on cohort versus cross-sectional views of the data, on the cadence of reports and on how intervention decisions will be coordinated across subjects. Kristen said building-level and district-level professional learning communities will use shared reports to align instruction and intervene sooner when students show risk factors.
The district framed the midyear report as a work-in-progress: administration said some gains are evident but cautioned that meeting long-term proficiency targets will require sustained implementation and, in some cases, accelerated growth beyond typical annual expectations.
