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Board hears enrollment uptick and curriculum changes; district to align growth assessment to SAT
Summary
Administrators reported a 7.66% increase in fall enrollment (about 62 FTE), reviewed climate and culture surveys, and said grades 8–11 will switch to practice SAT for growth assessment to better align with proficiency measures; trustees discussed needs for consistent curriculum, textbooks and coaching.
District administrators presented fall enrollment and climate-survey results at the Nov. 18 Madison District Public Schools board meeting and outlined changes to how the district will measure student growth.
Administration said the district’s fall enrollment rose 7.66 percent year over year — roughly 62 full-time-equivalent students — and highlighted an increase in student survey participation from 51 percent last fall to 68 percent this cycle. The district said it filtered non-substantive anonymous comments and provided building-level spreadsheets to principals so they can address school-specific concerns.
Officials also described a change to growth assessments: beginning this year, grades 8–11 will use a practice SAT as the growth measure so that growth tracking aligns with the SAT-based proficiency metric the district uses to evaluate performance. The administration said the change is intended to better measure student progress and to support more consistent curriculum pacing across classrooms.
Trustees praised some gains but questioned drop-offs in overall proficiency in some areas. Several trustees urged additional support for grades 6–12, noting that grant funding tends to favor K–5 literacy supports and that recent textbook purchases (for the middle school math and health courses) reflect a longer-term effort to stabilize curriculum. Trustees asked administration to follow up on frequency of student reminders about the student behavioral handbook and to work with building administrators on discipline consistency and cultural-awareness activities.
Administration will continue to bring curriculum task force updates to the board and to provide building-specific survey data to principals for targeted follow-up.
