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Three Rivers presents midyear assessment snapshots and rising graduation rates; board highlights CTE success
Summary
Director Jessica Durant gave midyear assessment snapshots showing gains in early‑grade benchmarks and mixed middle/high‑school results; Superintendent and CTE leaders reported districtwide graduation rates above 95% for Career & Technical Education participants and notable gains for some vulnerable student groups.
At the Feb. 19 board meeting, Jessica Durant, district director for assessment and data, presented midyear snapshots of locally administered, actionable assessments and described how teacher teams use those data to plan in‑year interventions.
Durant said kindergarten beginning‑of‑year benchmark performance rose from about 38% in September to 81% by January on a district formative measure. Fourth‑grade computation scores were reported at roughly 36% at the beginning of the year and 50% by midyear. Durant framed these assessments as tools teachers use to identify small‑group instruction and reteaching opportunities rather than as summative accountability measures.
Board members asked whether social media use or generative AI affects performance. Durant said the one‑minute cold‑read assessments discussed that evening are administered in class and do not appear to be affected by AI, though she noted that AI and assignment‑integrity issues were a separate concern for coursework rather than the in‑class measures she presented.
Separately, Casey Alderson reviewed graduation statistics for the class of 2024. Alderson reported that students completing CTE (career‑technical education) pathways graduated at rates over 95% districtwide, and highlighted large gains at specific high schools: Illinois Valley High School was reported at about 95.3% overall, Hidden Valley rose 5 percentage points to about 89.2%, and North Valley posted roughly 94%.
Alderson and the superintendent credited targeted wraparound supports, school advocates, and expansion of CTE opportunities for the improvements, while acknowledging persistent gaps in alternative settings such as SOSA (an alternative program), where completer rates remain lower.
What it means: The board and district framed the midyear data as actionable information teachers use to adjust instruction and as evidence that targeted supports and expanded CTE offerings are correlated with higher on‑time graduation rates for many subgroups. Trustees asked for continued stratification by school to identify successful practices that can be replicated.
Next steps: District staff said they will continue teacher PLC work, expand high‑school data review practices, and explore communications strategies (summer reading supports and library hours) to reduce summer slide. The board did not vote on new curriculum or programs during the meeting.
Quotes: “If you want your child to read, just get access and read,” Durant said, describing elementary practices.
