District details new elementary supports, Benchmark ELA and i-Ready math rollout

District administrators presented a multi-pronged set of elementary supports and curriculum changes intended to improve consistency across schools and bolster intervention for struggling students.

Dr. Sharif Ashley said the district added instructional support coordinators (ISCs) — described as teachers on special assignment — and security monitors at elementary schools to help with high-volume discipline incidences, arrival/dismissal supervision, visitor check-in and evening-event oversight. Dr. Ashley said one building recorded more than 300 recordable discipline instances in a year and that ISCs play a central role in restorative approaches and staff coaching.

Presenters described a district behavior matrix built around three schoolwide expectations — be safe, be respectful, be responsible — and explained that ISCs, social workers, school psychologists and principals form multi-tiered teams (SSD and Data Review Teams) to generate interventions, track data, and make consistent support recommendations across buildings.

On curriculum, staff reviewed year-one implementation of Benchmark Advanced ELA and year-two implementation of the i-Ready math program. The Benchmark presentation emphasized explicit phonics, integrated writing, and regular small-group instruction; staff said Benchmark provides structured scope and sequence and includes daily integrated writing tasks. For math, district staff said i-Ready aims to promote conceptual understanding, problem solving, and productive student discussions; the district has administered diagnostics three times this year and is using learning walks and consultant feedback to refine instruction.

Staff also highlighted professional-development supports, grade-level collaboration time (five grade-level meetings per year), and a new digital repository for student assessments and meeting notes to support consistent monitoring. Board members asked about differentiating for mixed-fluency groups and how collaboration time is protected; staff said small-group tools in Benchmark plus intervention processes via the Data Review Team are key mechanisms and that the district will continue to build collaboration time into annual schedules.

The presentation closed with a note that social-emotional-learning supports (Second Step) are in place across general and special education settings and that the district is expanding counselor positions as funding allows. No board action was taken; materials were presented for review and follow-up.