District reports midyear progress for Achievement Gap Reduction program

District staff presented the midyear report for the Achievement Gap Reduction (AGR) program, emphasizing instructional coaching, small-group instruction and assessment-driven supports across participating schools.

Allison Feuer, early childhood supervisor, described AGR's scope—63 traditional schools and one charter participating, serving roughly 10,072 students—and explained that AGR strategies are contractual requirements tied to the Department of Public Instruction. She said the district uses AIMSWeb Plus and I-Ready to screen early literacy needs and monitor winter-to-spring growth, with notable gains in third-grade cohorts and measurable movement of students into benchmark ranges.

Feuer outlined instructional supports used across AGR schools, including small classroom ratios (18:1 or 30:2 in K–5), targeted literacy coaching, LETRS training participation (more than 500 AGR teachers), and math-coaching partnerships. The report included counts of coaching visits, walk-throughs and teacher participation in routines such as counting-collections.

Board members asked for comparative data year over year; Feuer said baseline efforts are ongoing and the district would follow up with historical comparisons when measures are aligned. The AGR office said it will continue walkthroughs, targeted coaching cycles and monitoring to maintain momentum into the spring assessment window.

No formal action was taken; the item was presented as an informational midyear report with expected continuing monitoring.