McAllen ISD reports mid‑year K–2 literacy progress, plans reading camps across 18 schools

McAllen ISD told trustees on April 14 that districtwide efforts to strengthen early literacy show encouraging mid‑year results and will be reinforced with summer reading supports.

Sandra Garcia, coordinator for elementary reading language arts, said the district uses the mCLASS Amplify screener and reported mid‑year composite results of roughly 64% of kindergarteners, 62% of first graders and 63% of second graders at or above benchmark. "We tend to see slower growth from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year...we expect to see a little bit of higher growth from the middle of the year to the end of the year," Garcia said.

Teachers and coordinators described the district's structured literacy approach—explicit, systematic and diagnostic instruction that emphasizes phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension—and said small‑group "teacher table" instruction and literacy centers are used to target needs identified by the screener. Garza Elementary Principal Nancy Valenzuela highlighted campus improvements and noted the district will run a reading camp in May at all 18 schools, providing students with summer materials and backpacks.

Board members asked for year‑over‑year comparisons, campus‑level skill breakdowns and alignment to state goals. Administration said longitudinal data (back to 2021) is available, that they track cohorts of students who remain in MISD versus new entrants, and that the district uses House Bill 3 goals—stated in the presentation as an 86% target this year—to set annual benchmarks.

The item was presented for information; trustees did not take action.