Freehold Township board highlights strong year-to-year gains on I-Ready diagnostics; district ties goals to curriculum changes

A district presenter told the Freehold Township Board of Education that spring I-Ready diagnostic results showed "high performance, high growth" across elementary and middle schools and notable year-to-year gains in both reading and math.

The presenter said the share of students scoring "mid or above grade level" in reading rose from 19% in the fall to 46% in the spring — an increase the presenter described as a 27 percentage-point gain — while the proportion of students one grade level below in reading fell from 40% to 20%. Two-grade-level and three-or-more-grade-level reading gaps also narrowed, the presenter said, from 10% to 5% and from 8% to 6%, respectively.

In math, the presenter reported that students in the mid-or-above grade-level band rose from 15% to 50% across the district, and that students one grade level or below dropped from 48% to 21%. The presenter added that the math gains reflected both tier-one curriculum work and intervention support.

The presenter linked those results to recent curriculum adoptions and instructional changes: the district has been implementing the Envision math curriculum across grades and adopted foundational reading resources for early grades, and leaders said those changes informed school-level growth goals. On the district's approach to targets, the presenter said the goals were set with I-Ready guidance that typical growth goals should be realistic (the vendor discouraged aiming for >5% annual growth for specific subgroups) and noted that many schools exceeded their locally set goals.

The presentation included school-by-school achievement details: Applegate exceeded a reading goal (about 62%) by reaching 69% and met a math goal of 65% at 66%; Kina, Donovan, Ericson, West Freehold, Barcelo Middle and Eisenhower Middle were all described as having met or exceeded their respective reading and math growth goals.

Preschool early-literacy results were singled out: the presenter reported a preschool goal that 80% of graduates would identify letters and said the cohort attained 100%, adding, "Every single graduating preschooler knows all of their letters." The presenter attributed strong performance in foundational reading domains (phonological awareness, phonics, high-frequency words) to a recently adopted early-reading program and targeted instructional supports.

The board asked clarifying questions about denominators and enrollments; one member noted the presenter's reference to roughly 3,500 test-takers when discussing the 21% math figure for students below grade level. The presenter emphasized that I-Ready is a diagnostic tool used three times per year and described how MyPath lessons and curricular choices are used to target instruction.

The presentation also described qualitative goals: a restorative-practices coaching model in middle schools with identified coaches, a 20-member Responsive Classroom elementary implementation team trained in four full-day sessions, and an implementation timeline extending into the 2026-27 school year. District staff named in the presentation as supporting those efforts included Chris Cleffy, Jen Lawler, Tracy Atari and Amy Cerulo.

Finally, the district described a year-long committee to vet instructional uses of artificial intelligence and said the curriculum department has embedded AI discussions into professional development. The stated goal for 2026-27 is to identify vetted AI tools for use in math/science and social studies and to pilot possible language-arts tools.

Board materials and the presenter's slide packets were made available to trustees and the public; board members praised the year-over-year movement during questions and discussion. The board proceeded to other agenda items after the presentation.