Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Assessment And Achievement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District data shows strong CAASPP performance overall but flags elementary declines and assessment gaps
Summary
Administrators presented CAASPP and local-assessment data showing high overall results (85% meet/exceed) but notable elementary declines—especially at Havens—prompting plans to norm internal assessments, expand professional development, and pilot agnostic benchmarks to reconcile DIBELS/Bridges with state tests.
District leaders opened a lengthy presentation on academic outcomes, saying the 2024–25 CAASPP results show 85% of students met or exceeded state standards overall but that detailed school-level and subgroup data revealed troubling inconsistencies. Assistant Superintendent Ariel Dolowich and Director Stephanie Griffin told the board that "85 percent of the students who took this test … meet or exceeded state standards" and that, while Piedmont performs among the top districts statewide, the elementary schools show declines that need targeted work.
Staff argued the discrepancies stem in part from differences between local benchmarks and state tests and from uneven administration and grading practices across sites. Griffin pointed to DIBELS and Bridges benchmark results that in some cases did not align with CAASPP performance—"At Havens, 96 percent of students per DIBELS were at grade level, but only 76% were at grade level or better on the CAASPP"—and recommended norming assessment administration, expanding DIBELS training, and piloting an agnostic benchmark (e.g., Renaissance STAR or FastBridge) more closely correlated with CAASPP.
Board members pressed for longitudinal and student-level follow-up to see whether early gaps persist through middle and high school; staff said longitudinal tracking is available and committed to providing cohort analyses and a "distance from standard" metric to clarify trajectories. Parents and teachers in public comment urged faster identification and intervention for students with dyslexia and for consistent intervention thresholds across the three elementary sites. District staff said next steps include focused professional development, school-level data-inquiry meetings, and scheduled follow-up reports to the board.
