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Miller Middle School leaders describe attendance, behavior and intervention gains; ExactPath shows strong interim math growth
Summary
Miller Middle School staff briefed the board on MTSS work aimed at improving attendance, reducing disciplinary referrals, and accelerating learning through targeted interventions including a testing center, student success center, ExactPath math intervention and Saturday school; administrators reported encouraging early growth on intervention diagnostics.
School leaders at Miller Middle School presented a mid-year progress update to the board on Feb. 16, describing goals and interventions aimed at attendance, behavior and academic growth.
Mr. Glenn and co-presenters outlined the school's attendance target (students present 90% of the time; teacher presence 95%) and the behavior goal that 95 percent of students have fewer than two major disciplinary referrals for the year. "Right now as far as student attendance 43% of students have missed more than 5 days of school," one presenter said, and noted that the proportion meeting a 10-day absence threshold was lower. They also reported that 2 percent of students had two or more major referrals (two students in seventh grade, 13 in eighth).
Intervention structure: The school described a WIN time (intervention block every other day) with Lexia for literacy, ALEKS/Alex for math, SEL work, and teacher-requested small groups. To free teachers to intervene, staff set up a testing center for students retaking assessments. The school's student success center provides short-term skill building; staff emphasized it is not a long-term placement.
ExactPath results: Administrators reported early returns on ExactPath math intervention. Presenters said one intervention group led by Nicole Hempy averaged "91 points of growth" on ExactPath assessments at semester, compared with the vendor's typical annual expectation of 35 points; administrators described this as an encouraging early signal of accelerated growth.
Saturday school and participation: Saturday school (8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.) operates as a voluntary, small-group intervention and an academic work space; administrators reported typical attendance of about 25 to 30 students weekly, with spikes near conferences and quarter-ends.
Pilot initiatives: Staff said pilot project-based-learning exploratory classes were active in seventh and eighth grade (seventh grade interdisciplinary projects, eighth grade leadership projects) under a pilot with PBL Works, and that some staff would pilot PBL across additional exploratory sections in spring 2026.
Board members asked about coordination with feeder schools and transition planning; presenters said they coordinate with counseling teams and sometimes schedule interventions early in the year rather than waiting until semester.
Next steps: The board will visit Miller Middle School during a scheduled board visit to observe WIN time and interventions in practice. Administrators said they will continue monitoring diagnostic and ISASP windows and report progress at future meetings.
