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District 196 reports small literacy gains, outlines plan to address mid‑year dip
Summary
District 196 presented year‑end FastBridge screening results showing modest year‑to‑year gains and a winter dip in kindergarten–grade 1 driven by a nonsense‑word subtest; administrators proposed scope‑and‑sequence adjustments, more early phonics instruction, a new K–2 writing curriculum and expanded progress monitoring.
District 196 officials on Monday presented year‑end results from FastBridge literacy screening and laid out a multi‑pronged plan to close mid‑year dips in early grades.
"This presentation is informational only and there is no action for the board to take," Jeremy Sorenson, the district’s director of elementary education, said as he introduced the report. Steven Belkemp, coordinator of research, assessment and analytics, said the screenings are intended as a systems measurement of the district’s tier‑one instruction.
Key findings presented by the administration included a winter‑season proficiency dip in kindergarten and first grade that the team traced primarily to the nonsense‑word subtest, and steady year‑over‑year spring proficiency improvements of about one percentage point in K–1. For grades 2–10 the district reported meeting its goal with a three‑percentage‑point increase in spring proficiency year‑over‑year.
To respond, Sorenson and Belkemp outlined several steps for 2026‑27: adjust the kindergarten scope and sequence to introduce letter‑sound correspondence earlier, add phonemic awareness practice and a 10‑minute Heggerty warm‑up during the first trimester, pilot and then expand a new writing curriculum for K–2, adopt Reed Act‑approved literacy interventions for higher‑risk students, and continue training staff in professional learning communities (PLCs) so teachers can use formative data to retarget instruction.
"We will adjust our scope and sequence for next year to give students earlier exposure to these skills," Sorenson said, emphasizing that changes aim to reduce the winter dip so screening results better reflect instruction and learning.
Board members asked how the district will monitor the effectiveness of new strategies between the three mandated screenings (fall, winter and spring). "We're not just going to use FastBridge," Sorenson replied. "We have progress monitoring and formative data collected throughout the year to check responsiveness," which teachers review in PLCs and use to adjust WIN (What I Need) intervention groups.
Dr. Calvin pressed for clarity on timing and how long a strategy would be allowed to demonstrate impact. Belkemp and Sorenson said the district will combine weekly classroom‑level progress monitoring with the three annual screeners to determine responsiveness and adjust supports more quickly than in the past.
The administration also said it will pilot STAR in some secondary settings to see how well it predicts ACT proficiency and aligns with high‑school curricula; FastBridge will remain the district’s primary universal screener K–10.
The presentation noted pockets of strong implementation — schools with early PLC adoption and high curriculum fidelity showed stronger year‑to‑year growth. District leaders said they will visit those schools to document practices for systemwide replication.
Next steps include staff training on the new K–2 writing curriculum in August, schedule adjustments for added phonics instructional minutes in kindergarten, and continued rollout of intervention curriculum materials to reduce variance across classrooms.
The presentation was informational; no board action was required.
