District reports math gains after two-year redesign; reading performance lags and ELA resource rollout planned

District academic leaders told the board July 24 that preliminary, non-validated state and internal assessment data show measurable gains in mathematics after a two-year curricular realignment and that reading (ELA) performance remains the district's most concerning area.

Stacia Stewart (staff member, Academic Services) presented the summer professional learning program and a data snapshot. She said district-wide proficiency in mathematics has risen, with notable gains in sixth-grade and middle-school Algebra I, which administrators attributed to a restructuring that better matched student readiness to course placement. Stewart said Algebra II scores are also strong.

On literacy, administrators said ELA proficiency is steady but shows only limited growth; they flagged reading as the area of greatest concern. Stewart and board members discussed the district's recently approved ELA core resource, Benchmark Advance, which administrators said will be a key catalyst in raising literacy scores. They also described Letters for Learning (a DESE initiative tied to early literacy), Kagan active-engagement strategies, and professional learning opportunities offered to teachers over the summer.

Administrators said the assessment data are preliminary and have not completed state validation; they described a school-by-school, grade-by-grade analysis that will be available to principals before the start of school so supports can be mobilized immediately. Stewart also noted professional learning attendance numbers (for example, 61 teachers attended the Missouri Council of Mathematics session) and that instructional coaches and PLCs helped produce measurable gains in middle-school science as well.

Board members asked for a concentrated plan to address literacy; district staff said Benchmark Advance rollout and the science-of-reading initiatives will be central to a multi-part approach that includes assessments, targeted supports and professional learning. No board vote was taken on the instructional items at the meeting.