Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Assessment Results topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Nashua BOE hears SAS results showing limited year-to-year growth; district highlights supports for ELL and students with IEPs
Summary
District presenters told the Nashua School District board that SAS proficiency has been relatively flat with notable declines at key transitions; presenters said participation fell below the 95% state expectation (about 89%) and outlined interventions including increased i-Ready use, Math Empowered PD and coaching to support ELL and IEP students.
District assessment leaders presented results from the 2024–25 New Hampshire SAS tests and told the Nashua School District Board of Education the data show modest gains for some groups but largely flat proficiency overall.
Doctor Scarpati, who led the presentation, said the district’s participation rate for the spring assessment was roughly 89 percent, below the state expectation of 95 percent and “considerably lower than the state participation scores,” a gap that can affect accountability designations. He said proficiency trends for Nashua generally mirror state patterns, with ELA scores highest, followed by math, and science lowest.
Scarpati and Mr. Posca highlighted subgroup performance: ELL students showed lower overall proficiency rates than their peers but “considerable growth,” with some grade cohorts moving out of the lowest performance band. For students with IEPs, presenters reported lower proficiency but noted reductions over multi‑year spans in the portion of students scoring substantially below level.
“We’re not seeing a lot of growth at the state or district level year to year in terms of overall proficiency,” Scarpati said, urging the board to prioritize triangulating SAS results with interim measures.
Presenters emphasized local interim assessments and instructional tools as context for SAS scores. The district is increasingly using i‑Ready at middle schools and piloting math benchmarks (M‑class) and reading assessments (Maze) at elementary grades. Posca noted inconsistencies between i‑Ready and SAS for some grades and suggested further investigation with the vendors.
Board members pressed on methodology, accommodations and subgroup participation. One member asked whether ELL or IEP students can test in their home language and whether accommodations are applied; the presenters replied accommodations specified in a student’s IEP are implemented, and translation options exist for some Spanish speakers but not all languages.
Superintendent Dr. Andre said the district will continue to triangulate year‑end SAS results with quarterly and classroom data, expand coaching cycles and professional development, and present ongoing updates as part of a broader improvement scorecard. He said a fuller answer on multi‑year trends will come with additional analysis through 2026.
The presentation closed with a commitment to targeted supports—Math Empowered professional development for elementary teachers, increased PLC review time, and additional coaching—aimed at moving students up from the lowest-performance bands.
