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District reports modest test gains but warns hundreds may face retention under state law
Summary
Superintendent and instructional staff reported small districtwide score increases and several school‑level gains but said preliminary calculations show hundreds of students could be retained under the Third Grade Success Act; district leaders called the retention projections "alarming" and pledged summer interventions.
Superintendent Dr. Saxs and the district instructional team presented an end‑of‑year data monitoring report showing modest districtwide gains and several school‑level successes, while warning of hard choices ahead under state retention requirements.
Staff said district ELA performance rose about 1.1% and math nearly 3% on preliminary measures, and highlighted schools that met or exceeded annual targets after sustained growth. Presenters pointed to specific cohort gains — for example, Mil Creek Intermediate’s cohort showed notable year‑to‑year improvement — and described continued work on curriculum alignment and targeted interventions.
At the same time, the superintendent underscored retention risks tied to the state’s Third Grade Success Act. “If a kid in third grade is not proficient in reading or math by the end of the school year based on the GSA, they will be retained,” Dr. Saxs said, and the staff presented preliminary figures: “321 of our students, or 23%, are projected for retention in math, and 352 students, or 26%, in reading out of 1,369 tested,” figures the superintendent described as “alarming” though improved from prior years.
District leaders emphasized that the numbers are preliminary — the state must scrub and finalize data — and said some students counted in both reading and math projections overlap. Staff also pointed to eight statutory “good cause” exemptions and said they are planning summer and early‑fall interventions to lower the numbers, including targeted summer programming and additional intervention time in next year’s master schedule.
Instructional staff reviewed diagnostic windows and the district’s MTSS (multi‑tiered system of supports) approach, and recommended changes to implementation, including reducing personalized‑instruction expectations from roughly 45 minutes to a 30–40 minute range for K–5 pathways based on teacher focus‑group feedback.
The board did not vote on any retention policy at the meeting; superintendent and staff said they will continue data reviews over the summer and provide a summary for the incoming board members.
