Staff tell board I‑Ready and DIBELS show different pictures; Castro singled out for targeted early‑reading work

District staff presented midyear assessment results to the Mountain View Whisman School District board on Feb. 12, reporting on I‑Ready diagnostics (reading and math) and DIBELS early‑literacy screening taken in December.

Director Nguyen said I‑Ready provides both end‑of‑year proficiency projections and growth measures, but cautioned it can overestimate reading outcomes relative to DIBELS, which measures foundational early‑literacy skills and sets time‑of‑year benchmarks. Nguyen reported that 48 percent of students had higher I‑Ready scores than DIBELS scores, a discrepancy staff said could mask students who need early intervention. The presentation showed site‑level and subgroup patterns: younger grades had larger gains, while gaps persist between Hispanic/Latino students and Asian and White students, and between socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) students and others.

The board focused on how assessment data should inform instruction and curriculum choices. Trustees asked whether existing curricula such as Amplify are working or whether improvement is needed in delivery and alignment. Staff said the data are most useful when coupled with classroom‑level measures and recommended developing common, standards‑aligned interim assessments that grade‑level teams could use to adjust instruction. Trustees also raised parent communications and the tradeoffs of assessment time versus instructional time.

Nguyen and other staff described targeted work at Castro: the site participates in an early‑reading support program with AIM Institute, teachers have completed additional professional development (some voluntarily on their own time), and site coaches are aligning instruction across kindergarten–grade 2. Staff said progress monitoring shows early gains in first‑grade progress monitoring at Castro, though proficiency gaps remain.

Trustees asked for clearer, grade‑ and site‑level visuals to help non‑technical audiences interpret results. The board directed staff to continue refining assessment strategy and to return with survey and assessment recommendations that balance district‑level comparability and classroom usefulness.