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Belgrade schools report mixed gains; administrators point to attendance and staffing as top constraints
Summary
Elementary schools reported strong kindergarten reading gains but spring regressions and staffing-driven intervention gaps; middle and high schools showed modest year-to-year gains and district administrators flagged attendance and behavior (notably middle-school belonging survey results) as priorities for next year.
District leaders laid out a mixed picture of student performance across Belgrade’s elementary, middle and high schools, highlighting early-grade reading gains alongside staffing and attendance challenges that administrators said limited sustained progress.
Elementary principals reported that kindergarten reading proficiency rose midyear (from about 59% to 74% at one school) after reducing pull‑out intervention for acclimation, though some grades regressed by spring amid staffing gaps. Administrators said they will expand targeted “skill‑based” interventions, refine FastBridge and Bridges curriculum alignment and use M‑Class diagnostic information to shape small‑group instruction.
At the middle school, administrators said the building met a two‑point year‑to‑year growth goal overall, with 5th grade showing notable gains (from roughly 59% to 71% on the cited measure). Leaders pointed to schedule changes that increased math instructional minutes and to widening intervention thresholds (from the 20th to the 30th percentile) to reach more students.
High school staff described a longer lead time for large test‑score shifts (ACT results are driven by junior‑year testing) and announced a curricular shift for freshmen back to a traditional algebra→geometry sequence to better match ACT item distributions. The high school also reported modest gains in students who retake the ACT.
Attendance and student belonging emerged as central concerns. Districtwide elementary attendance averaged about 92% (the district goal is 94%), and middle‑school survey results showed about 81% of students saying they feel they belong but only 62% rating school culture as positive in the spring survey. Administrators said the district will continue MTSS, peer‑conflict supports, counselor interventions and improved parent outreach to address barriers to attendance and to foster belonging.
Why it matters: Officials said the combination of staffing churn, health‑related absences (norovirus, influenza and some pneumonia cases were cited) and a saturated spring testing window contributed to variable spring outcomes. The board directed administration to continue refining intervention timing, attendance outreach and behavior supports as part of next year’s school improvement work.
What’s next: Principals and district staff will provide more detailed spreadsheets and tracking tools to trustees so the board can see longitudinal student‑level growth, and the district will pilot scheduling and expanded intervention windows next year to address persistent gaps.
