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District presents elementary math gains and early experience with new curriculum
Summary
Administrators and principals reported year‑over‑year growth on district monitoring measures (noting large gains in kindergarten, second and fifth grades), described monthly PLC monitoring and how the STEMscopes curriculum is being integrated with existing PLC unit work to raise instructional clarity and student fluency.
District data leads told the board the early measures show improvements in elementary math after closer month‑to‑month monitoring and curriculum work.
Director Jessica Durant introduced the data team; Ally Berg, elementary math specialist, and Heather Yount, an elementary principal, described the district’s use of Acadience math measures and a split focus this year on computation and concepts/application. Berg said kindergarten, second and fifth grade showed ‘‘huge’’ gains compared with the prior year and that roughly 70% of students in some grades were meeting the district’s benchmark on the computation measure.
“Every grade level last year, as we were looking at it more closely, we had growth compared to the year before,” Berg said, noting particular gains in computation fluency. Heather Yount told the board the district intentionally aligned the new STEMscopes curriculum with existing PLC unit work so teachers’ prior planning is preserved and integrated rather than discarded.
Presenters said PLCs (professional learning communities) and frequent, short common assessments (exit tickets) helped teachers spot learning gaps and reduce test anxiety by making learning targets visible and by celebrating incremental student progress. Board members asked about student test anxiety and whether the new curriculum’s rigor was producing the expected benefits; presenters said training and iterative planning were smoothing ‘‘bumps’’ in the rollout.
District staff committed to report back next month with additional district data and to bring a broader year‑end snapshot in June.
