Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Principals report midyear gains, outline 90‑day plans focusing on literacy, math and behavior
Loading...
Summary
Principals from South Mountain, Moriarty Elementary, Route 66 and the district’s middle schools gave midyear updates Feb. 18, citing growth on monthly assessment paths, responsive‑classroom reductions in discipline referrals, and targets for May 2025 proficiency gains tied to tier‑1 instruction and building‑thinking classroom strategies.
Principals and district leaders presented midyear data and 90‑day plans to the Moriarty‑Edgewood School District board on Feb. 18, highlighting growth trajectories in reading and math and school‑level strategies to push proficiency higher by the end of the school year.
"Our big shift is transitioning from more responsibility with the student," South Mountain Principal Oscar Antiveros told trustees, describing plans to have students regularly track assessment results and participate in weekly PLC reviews. Antiveros outlined targets including moving Istation levels 4–5 from 39% to 44% and ELA proficiency goals aimed at 68% by May 2025.
Moriarty Elementary's midyear report emphasized growth pathways: while kindergarten showed 31% proficiency, 65% of kindergarteners are on a typical or accelerated growth path, a metric principals said better reflects instructional gains than a single proficiency snapshot. The school also attributed a cumulative 34% decrease in discipline referrals since the 2022–23 school year to Responsive Classroom implementation and more classroom‑level behavior supports.
Middle‑grade reports described gains on IMSa and iMASA instruments (third grade +9%, fourth +15%, fifth +38% reported at one school), while the district director of learning services presented systemwide figures: K–2 reading proficiency rose about 1% between beginning and midyear, grades 3–5 showed about 11% growth on iMASA reading measures, and K–2 math showed an 11 percentage‑point increase on one cited measure.
Principals stressed consistent tier‑1 instruction, targeted interventions, and instructional coaching (peer observations and walkthrough feedback). One principal summarized observed classroom effects of the building‑thinking‑classroom approach as “time on task… anywhere from 95% to 100%” in observed cycles.
Trustees praised the reports and asked staff to continue focusing on growth (not just proficiency), noting that multiple metrics and assessment tools (Istation vs. iMASA vs. NWEA) measure different aspects of reading and math development. District leaders told trustees they will continue to align professional development, shared exemplars of assessment items, and use cross‑content writing strategies (asking social studies and science teachers to assign deeper open‑ended writing tasks to support ELA outcomes).
Next steps: principals will continue implementation of the 90‑day objectives, provide progress monitoring results to the board, and follow up on professional development and parent‑engagement strategies.
