Over the past few meetings, the Board of Education (BOE) has heard about several tests, assessments, and other measurements. Here is a brief round-up of each.
Kindergarten Entrance Inventory
This test measures skills that kindergarten students should be able to demonstrate, such as decoding, encoding, and fluency. In layman's terms, this could mean something as simple as holding a book and turning its pages. Understanding that print conveys meaning and exploring books independently are also considered essential skills at this age. The ability to recognize printed letters, match letters and sounds, identify initial sounds, and demonstrate emergent writing are also measured.
Just under 40% are meeting the goals of this inventory.
Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)
This test measures students' early literacy skills, including letter recognition, phonemic awareness, and word reading fluency, to identify potential reading difficulties and monitor their progress. The composite data is used at the grade level to plan instruction and small groups, the growth scores are used to measure individual student growth, and the subtest data is used in teaching teams alongside Reading Interventionists to plan instruction.
Interim Superintendent Dr. Laura Norbut said students who score in the red zone of the DIBELS goals overlap with students who have been identified for tier three reading intervention or have documented learning disabilities and receive support. There was also some discussion about whether the composite scores accurately reflected results or overshadowed growth areas. Interim Chief Academic Officer Dr. Heather Jacobi said that the test had undergone several iterations, and how it is weighted has changed.
Next Generation Accountability System
Dr. Jacobi explained that this assessment goes beyond test scores and graduation rates to provide a more holistic perspective of school and district performance and considers student growth over time. Administrators from each school explained how they are addressing concerns about some of these indicators, including:
efforts to increase parent communication to encourage attendance
continued Amplify CKLA implementation
enhancing Bridges and Illustrative Math programs
utilizing school counselors to proactively address student needs,
encouraging physical fitness
addressing test fatigue
increasing reading stamina
*All charts and graphs are taken from the BOE presentations. This article was written with the help of meeting minutes.