At its meeting on Tuesday, March 11, the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) Board of Education discussed student growth in reading and math and upcoming curriculum changes to elementary school literacy.
Reading and math updates
Lindsey Jenkins-Stark, AUSD Senior Manager of Data, Assessment, and Research, summarized student performance on the Star Reading and Math assessments. The half-hour assessments are adaptive exams that provide teachers with immediate scoring information on proficiency and predict how the student will perform on statewide testing during the spring.
Crucially, Star assessments offer valuable data on student growth during a school year by measuring progress between two points in time in comparison to each student’s own prior performance as well as to other similar students. A student experiences “Typical Growth” if they grow at a pace in the 35th to 65th percentile compared to their peers. “Greater Growth” indicates that a student is growing at a pace above the 65th percentile, while “Less than Typical Growth” indicates a student is growing at a pace below the 35th percentile.
Jenkins-Stark noted that students in elementary school experience typical or greater growth in reading at higher rates than those in middle school, but both groups have seen an improvement over the last four years. Overall, 70% of students in all student groups experience typical or greater growth, with the exception of students in the “Black or African American” student group, of which only 64% experienced typical or greater growth.
As an indication that targeted student intervention is working, Jenkins-Stark highlighted elementary students in the “Fall Intervention/Urgent Intervention” group that received support in the fall and, as a result, saw the largest percentile growth in reading out of all student groups by winter.
The results were somewhat mixed for math assessments, on which students have a lower growth rank and predicted state scores than in reading. Significant opportunity gaps exist for certain students, particularly those in the “Black or African American” and “Pacific Islander” student groups.
Maya Lin School Principal Karen Ringewald discussed efforts to “interrupt patterns of outcomes along racial and ethnic groups” through several initiatives, including expansion of “Response to Intervention” (RTI) blocks to provide further support to students struggling with reading or math, as well as integration of phonics programs in the curriculum and professional learning for teachers.
In a hopeful tone during Board discussion, Vice President Ryan LaLonde reiterated a key takeaway from previous discussions on student performance: “Research and testing and experts show that math will improve if we improve reading, because reading is critical to understanding math concepts as they go along.”
Elementary Literacy Initiative
In kicking off the presentation on the District’s Elementary Literacy Initiative, Tanya Harris, Director of Elementary Education, outlined a “Literacy Theory of Action,” which reads, in part: “If we provide early, systematic access to…reading instruction, as well as research-based targeted literacy interventions, starting in kindergarten and first grade and ensure they are culturally responsive…then we can address learning gaps before they widen.”
As part of the initiative, staff have engaged in listening sessions by dropping in to elementary school classrooms across the district during literacy blocks in an effort to observe how reading and writing are taught. They also have gathered teacher input on gaps in the current curriculum, need for better instructional materials, cultural responsiveness, and support for targeted intervention.
Ultimately, the process will refine and complete the District’s literacy framework to reflect best practices for literacy and language instruction and student support, in part by selecting a new English/Language Arts curriculum by spring 2026. A discovery committee tasked with evaluating new curricula will recommend three versions for teachers to pilot during the 2025-2026 school year.
Harris described the piloting process.
“Teachers will be teaching the different curricula,” Harris said. “They’ll be coming to have discussions about what it looks like and feels like and sounds like, and how their kids are responding. They’ll open their classroom doors for other folks to come in and see them implementing the curriculum.”
Further work is being led to select an Early Reading Difficulties “ERD” screener, as legislation requires Kindergarten to Second Grade students be screened for reading difficulties, including the risk of dyslexia.
Other notable items
- The Board unanimously approved the Second Interim Budget report, which reflects the District’s financial position as of January 2025 and highlights expected attendance, spending patterns, and multiyear projections.
- The Board also unanimously approved the initial proposals for Successor Collective Bargaining Agreement with California School Employees Association (CSEA) Chapters 860 and 27.
Ken Der is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact him via [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Ken-Der.
