Edina board told READ Act work is on track after multi‑year curriculum and PD effort
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Summary
Director of teaching and learning Jody De Saint Hubert told the board the district is meeting READ Act requirements in curriculum and assessment, has trained roughly 300 educators through phase 1 PD, and is beginning phase 2 using the Strive platform; board members asked about staff workload and de‑implementation of older practices.
Jody De Saint Hubert, Edina Public Schools’ director of teaching and learning, told the board on April 13 that the district is ‘‘on track’’ with implementation of READ Act requirements and related professional development after a multi‑year rollout of new curriculum and screening tools.
De Saint Hubert said curriculum changes started earlier at the high school and have progressed through middle school (StudySync) to elementary benchmark implementation this year. She credited assistant director Bethany Van Osdell and implementation teams with coordinating job‑embedded professional development and said the district has used FastBridge as a universal screener and CAPT for deeper diagnostic assessment.
On professional development, De Saint Hubert said phase‑1 training reached roughly 300 educators with about 150 hours of PD and that phase‑2 is beginning now using the Strive platform; she said the district expects phase‑2 staff to complete assigned materials by June 30, 2027. ‘‘We are meeting all the requirements of the READ Act in curriculum and assessment areas and are on track with professional development,’’ she told the board.
Board members acknowledged the progress but pressed on staff workload and implementation pacing. One director asked how the district balances adding new initiatives with removing older work; De Saint Hubert described an intentional ‘‘de‑implementation’’ process and multi‑year planning to space changes and said leaders try to identify specific items to remove from staff plates as new work is added.
De Saint Hubert also reviewed that Cornelia Elementary is currently identified by the state as a ‘‘racially identified school’’ for the achievement and integration plan cycle and that many goals are submitted in draft form because numeric baselines will be available only after end‑of‑year data; the board later approved that Achievement & Integration plan during the action portion of the meeting.
The board did not vote on READ Act implementation that evening; staff provided the status update and fielded questions about timelines and supports.
