Great news! Our third-quarter reading results are in and we are seeing continued gains in the number of students reading at their grade level or above.
District-wide, reading scores were up 18 percentage points, with 49% of students proficient/reading at grade level in the third quarter, compared to 31% at the start of the school year. All eight MPSD elementary and middle schools saw their third quarter reading/English Language Arts (ELA) scores rise. Half of MPSD’s K-8 schools had more than 50% of students reading at grade level (61% of students at Franklin, 58% at Wilson Middle, 57% at Jackson and 55% at Riverview). Some schools saw jumps of 20 percentage points or more since fall. (Washington rose from 22% to 47%; Wilson from 34% to 58%; and Franklin 41% to 61%)
We expect these quarterly gains will translate into similar improvements on the state's spring Forward Exam, which is used for DPI's District and School Report Cards. The quarterly scores are based on three sources: Success for All (SFA), FastBridge (a nationally-normed assessment), and teacher/SFA facilitator observations.
Our FastBridge results, on their own, are encouraging. FastBridge scores students’ college readiness, assessing them as college pathway ready, low risk, some risk or high risk. In reading, 48% of MPSD students scored as college pathway ready or low risk, up 8 percentage points from last fall. In math, 52% of students scored as college pathway ready or low risk, up 5 percentage points.
SFA History
In September we rolled out a new reading curriculum called Success for All which also has a whole-school reform approach that includes cooperative/team student learning, distributed leadership among building staff, and solutions teams that focus on engaging families and removing barriers such as poor attendance or behavior. SFA was implemented in all six MPSD elementary and both of its middle schools. Lincoln and McKinley Academy were not part of that rollout; however, its administrators and staff members are also learning about the program to see what elements can be used for their students, such as cooperative learning.
We have heard some parents report that SFA has discouraged their students from reading or is holding back gifted readers from advancing beyond their grade level. This does not match district findings. We encourage parents to reach out to their school principal and SFA facilitators to work to address any concerns.
Thank you to all of our MPSD principals, teachers, SFA facilitators and coordinators, staff, families and students for everything you are doing at school and at home to improve reading!
Keep up the great work! 📚