School 14 presents test trends, sets ELL equity goal and highlights I Ready rollout

Mrs. Cloutier, principal of School 14, presented the school’s academic data and improvement plans to the Troy City School District board, citing multi‑year gains on New York State tests and outlining a targeted equity goal for English language learners.

The principal said the school’s trend lines for English language arts and math are rising despite a small recent dip in ELA. "If we study our trend line, it is going in the right direction," she said, and cited an 11 percentage‑point gain in third‑grade ELA compared with an earlier baseline and multi‑year math gains that the presentation summarized as 7% in third grade and 8% in fourth grade, bringing the presenter’s total proficiency figure to about 55%.

Why it matters: Mrs. Cloutier framed the presentation around the district’s theory of action — that students who are not meeting standards will have instruction changed until they do — and set an explicit equity target. "We commit by June 2025, that 50% of our transitioning and expanding English language learner students will accelerate their learning as evidenced by meeting their stretch growth benchmark in I Ready," she said, adding that School 14 currently serves 72 ELL students.

The presentation described several instructional strategies and programs the school will use to reach that target. Mrs. Cloutier said School 14 has adopted UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute) phonics instruction for Tier 3 scholars and a Morpheme Magic vocabulary program for grades 4–5. She outlined three coaching priorities — strengthening Tier 1 instruction, modeling high‑level practice, and leading grade‑level data teams — and said the school runs triweekly ELA assessments for grades 3–5, with plans to move grades 3–5 to computer testing next year.

David Rossi presented the district’s use of the I Ready adaptive diagnostic and standards mastery assessments and explained how diagnostic results form differentiated lessons and small‑group instruction. Rossi said the district’s expectation is that students spend 45 minutes per week on I Ready in ELA and 45 minutes in math. He showed early student case examples: a fifth‑grade student who spent 4 hours 22 minutes on lessons and showed marked improvement between diagnostics; a fourth‑grade student who improved from 46% to 67% after 2 hours 11 minutes of lessons; a third‑grade student who rose from 61% to 70%; and second‑grade gains summarized as a 34% improvement between assessments.

"I Ready has been powerful to enhance our teachers and coaches' ability to make deliberate, data driven, instructional decisions," Rossi said. The board and presenters framed these results as early and promising while noting the program is intended to supplement, not replace, classroom teaching.

Mrs. Cloutier also described the Stronger Connections mentoring program, a grant‑funded initiative in its first year at School 14. She said 24 mentors serve 5–7 students weekly — about 132 scholars — and that mentors set personalized goals that may be academic, social‑emotional, attendance‑related, or a combination of these.

Family engagement lead Jennifer Kern summarized four 2024 events intended to strengthen school‑family ties: a LEGO Masters competition attended by more than 80 families, a Multicultural Night with demonstrations and high‑school student participation, a Fall Family Fest with over 600 attendees in partnership with CDPHP, and an annual Turkey Trot that saw a 32% increase in family attendance over previous years. Mrs. Cloutier recognized fourth‑grade teacher Ashley Kenyon for producing a short video highlighting school spirit; the presentation closed with applause.

What’s next: presenters said triweekly assessments, small‑group instruction informed by I Ready diagnostics, and mentoring through Stronger Connections will continue as the school pursues its June 2025 equity target. No district policy change or board action on the programs was recorded during the presentation.