East Elementary reports 61% of third graders need interventions; principal outlines steps

A school leader reported to the Grand Rapids Public School District board that winter screening and a new CAPT screener identified a substantial need for intervention at East Elementary. The presenter said about 119 students required CAPT testing and that roughly 61 percent of the school’s third graders are currently receiving or recommended for academic intervention in reading or math. The presenter also stated that about 25 percent of students at East have individualized education programs (IEPs).

School leaders described immediate steps: creation of intervention groups, deployment of interventions informed by screener diagnostics, and posting a district-funded behavior interventionist position to reduce office discipline referrals and provide classroom supports. The presenter said the school has implemented some departmentalizing in upper elementary grade groups to concentrate instruction and strengthen teacher collaboration; early assessment results show gains in some measures but leadership plans further root-cause analysis to determine whether the high intervention rate is a trend or an anomaly.

Board members asked clarification questions about the measures used (CAPT screener, fluency measures and UFLI/star data) and the timeline for follow-up. The presenter said winter benchmarking data will be reviewed by the school’s leadership team and MTSS/intervention staff in short order and that a feedback meeting with teachers is scheduled to collect pros and cons before making longer-term program changes.

The board did not take formal action on the school report at this meeting; members requested additional data and asked for leadership to report back with analysis and next steps.