Rogers board hears detailed LEARNS Act report; 27 third-graders offered two-week summer reading camp

Dr. Brown told the Rogers School Board that the district monitored 461 third-grade students this year under the LEARNS Actstandards and found 228 of the districts 1,150 third-graders scored a one on the state ELA summative assessment, placing them "at risk" for retention.

The report explained the stateELA score combines three reading subtests and a writing test into a 1to4 scale. Dr. Brown said students scoring a one are eligible for several "good-cause" exemptions, including significant cognitive disability (DLM assessment), documented IEP/504 interventions, English learner progress, prior retention, assessment portfolios and traumatic events.

"We monitored 461 students," Dr. Brown said during the presentation, and added that the district concentrated progress monitoring and parent outreach all year. She gave the board a breakdown of the 228 students who scored a one: roughly 32% qualified through IEP-documented interventions, 25 students had 504 plans, 67 were ESOL students showing progress on ELPA21, eight were previously retained, four had been evaluated and did not qualify for special education (DNQ), 16 had documented traumatic events, and 27 narrowly missed the cutoff and had no qualifying exemption.

To give those 27 students another chance, the district will offer a targeted two-week Roger summer reading camp at Monty Grimes Elementary, led by ELA coach Dela Hutchinson and a team of teachers. "What we're going to do is offer a Roger summer reading camp," Dr. Brown said, noting the district will provide breakfast and lunch and that parents had committed to bring most of the identified students. Students who attend will be retested in the state's open summer window; those who still do not meet the standard will be considered for portfolio evidence or additional district review.

Dr. Brown also highlighted the districts interventions earlier in the year: individualized reading plans, progress monitoring every two weeks and parent conferences. She said roughly 79 Kthrough12 students took the DLM alternate assessment (nine in third grade) and that those nine are automatically promoted. Comparing district and state results, she said the statewide proportion of third-graders scoring a one was about 22%, while Rogers was at 20%.

Board members asked about participation and staffing for additional interventions. Dr. Brown said the 27 students had committed to attend the camp and that Rogers employs ELA and ESOL coaches and is buying supplemental, research-based K2 resources to support early literacy. "These 27 kids will retake [the test]," she said. "If they do not pass, we will come back together with the parent, the principal and the summer-reading instructors and do what's best for the student."

The presentation concluded with the board endorsing the plan to run the camp and retest students during the state's additional summer window; the district plans to reconvene principals and parents to evaluate outcomes and consider portfolio options or other interventions where necessary.

The academic report set the districts near-term task: support narrowly-missed students before promotion decisions are finalized and expand early-grade interventions to reduce future retention risk.