Monroe School District presents spring assessment results, outlines plan to boost math performance

Mike, the district's instructional lead, presented spring assessment results to the Monroe School District board, saying the three state-mandated tests — Smarter Balanced (ELA and math, grades 3—), NGSS science (grades 5, 8, 11) and the school-day SAT (grade 11) — together give the district a snapshot of how students are meeting grade-level standards. "What they're assessing is the students ability to meet grade level standards and that's important because it helps drive so much of the work we do," Mike said.

A key takeaway: English language arts performance is strong. Mike told the board Monroe is above the regional average across grades 3— in ELA and well above the state average, with cohort growth in several grades. "Every single year they've gone up," he said of cohort gains in an example where a cohort rose from 67.4% at grade 3 to 70.4% at grade 4.

Math remains the district's largest concern. Mike said the district's math scores are below the regional average though above the statewide mean, and attributed much of the shortfall to first-year implementation effects after a full K— rollout of the Illustrative Mathematics (IM) curriculum. "At some schools and some grade levels the entire grade level were at like 79% at goal which proves to us that okay the curriculum works. It's probably an implementation and implementation consistency issue," he said.

To address that, the district described a three-pronged improvement strategy: strengthen tier-one (everyday) instruction through the district's high-quality instructional model (HQI); refine interventions and MTSS diagnostics so supports match student needs; and expand specialist capacity for multilingual learners and interventionists.

Specific steps reviewed by the board include: - Lab sites and peer observation: the district has identified one to two teachers per elementary school who represent — pockets of success—d; colleagues will observe and replicate practices in other classrooms. "Teachers are doing peer observations in each of those classrooms to see best practices in action," Evelyn said. - Math coaching: a math consultant will conduct coaching cycles across schools to support teachers new to IM and those whose scores need improvement. - Focused PD on communicating reasoning: the district will emphasize claim-evidence-reasoning structures and synthesis parts of lessons to strengthen students' ability to explain mathematical reasoning, a weak claim area on assessments. - Targeted interventions and MTSS: administrators said they will diagnose needs more precisely before assigning tier 2 interventions, to better serve students who are —so close to meeting—d grade-level goals. - Family engagement: plans include videos, literacy and math nights and a district-wide MLL night to help parents understand grade-level expectations and support learning at home.

Board members pressed for specificity about transitions between elementary and middle school, where some cohorts showed drops, and urged continued monitoring. One board member said the board's expectation is clear: "The buyin is not optional and that's the message from this board," Allan said.

Administration framed near-term SMART targets (routine 3— percentage-point cohort gains in many grades) and said data monitoring and professional learning will track progress. Mike said the district will post presentation materials and related data online for the public. "I'll get on the website tomorrow," he told the board.

What happens next: the district plans continued professional development, targeted coaching cycles, deeper MTSS screening and family-engagement events this year; board members expect progress updates at future data-summit meetings.