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District reports academic growth and SEL gains, flags eighth-grade math plateau
Summary
Administrators reported most grades met or exceeded expected NWEA MAP growth and celebrated meeting an early-literacy KPI; SEL assessments (CELWEB, MESH) show high percentages in average/above-average categories while staff flagged declines in some climate items and a recurring plateau in seventh–eighth grade academic growth that will prompt curricular review.
District administrators presented spring academic assessments and social-emotional learning (SEL) data and highlighted both celebrations and areas for further attention.
Presenters said early-literacy changes for kindergarten and first grade (adding phoneme segmentation and nonsense-word fluency) are yielding improved information and helped the district meet its early-literacy KPI for the first time. Early numeracy measures and first-grade oral reading fluency results were strong, with staff reporting that roughly 90% of the earliest learners are at or above expected numeracy benchmarks.
On the NWEA MAP, district staff summarized RIT means and cohort growth. Most grades met or exceeded the expected fall-to-spring growth benchmark (the NWEA expectation is set so about 50% meet growth nationally); the district reported grade-level growth rates in the mid-50s to low-70s percentiles across grades. Administrators said one recurring concern is a plateau at seventh and eighth grade—particularly in math—and they are considering curricular adjustments and potentially adopting an algebra assessment for eighth graders to raise the ceiling for those students.
Staff also presented SEL measures. Kelly Jackson reported results from three tools: DESA (teacher-completed for K–4), CELWEB (student-completed K–4), and MESH (Panorama, grades 5–8). DESA showed gains in the strength category (spring up 7 percentage points from fall); staff recommended discontinuing DESA in the fall and relying on more actionable measures. CELWEB results improved slightly (overall average/above-average combined increased), and MESH results showed strengths but some decreases in categories such as social awareness and valuing of school. District staff said they will crosswalk MESH results with the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) and other tools to reduce duplicate questions and better target interventions.
Board members congratulated staff on the gains, asked for clarifications about expected vs. observed growth, and discussed the balance between high expectations and student well-being. Administrators said they will conduct a K–8 reading/writing curricular review next year and will continue to analyze assessment and classroom data to guide instruction.
The district said key performance indicators for the upcoming period will continue to raise the bar (e.g., high-achievement and high-growth thresholds) and staff will return with detailed reports and proposed next steps for grades where growth or achievement plateaus.
