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Board finds "reasonable progress" on ELA monitoring amid changing assessment standards
Summary
The board accepted the R2.1A English language arts monitoring report, noting cohort gains that outpaced state averages in places and signaling concern about short-term dips caused by the adoption of new state ELA standards and more rigorous K–3 expectations.
The Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District board voted to accept the R2.1A monitoring report on English language arts and formally found the district had made "reasonable progress with noted exceptions," after administration framed 2024 as a baseline year under Wisconsin's revised ELA standards.
Assistant director Melissa Olsen presented the monitoring report, saying spring 2024 was a baseline for the new standards and that 2025 represents the first comparable growth year. "Our cohort groups have demonstrated growth from '24 to '25," Olsen said, noting higher-than-state-average gains in several grades and improvements among historically underserved groups: students with disabilities improved from 13.3% to 15.6% proficiency and non-white students from 37.7% to 43.2%.
Olsen also flagged areas needing continued focus: overall forward-exam proficiency dipped slightly (53.8% to 52.4%), writing declined in some cohorts, and K'3 common-assessment proficiency fell in part because the district raised proficiency expectations as it implemented a science-of-reading aligned curriculum. "Short-term dips reflect increased rigor, not decreased learning," she said.
Board member Jerry Jasper moved that the district had made reasonable progress with noted exceptions; the motion was seconded and carried. The board asked administration to continue monitoring state adjustments to ACT 20 reporting before proposing changes to board indicators.
Next steps: administration will present further monitoring data in January and bring recommended indicator revisions only after reviewing state updates and updated cohort tracking.
