Cadott School Board - AGR gives educators a target toward improvement

Cadott Elementary School principal Brad Rogers updated board members Feb. 12, about goals in reading and math for the younger grades. Some of the classes saw an increase in percentiles, while others had a decrease, leading to collaboration to fix that gap for students. Photo by Ginna Young

By Ginna Young

By going over results of the Achievement Gap Reduction (AGR) in the middle of the school year, educators can formulate a plan to improve areas needed. Brad Rogers, Cadott Elementary School principal, shared those results Feb. 12, with the board of education.

For the kindergarten AGR, those classes set a goal of 90 percent to produce letter sounds, starting at 3 percent and currently sitting at 83 percent.

“Very strong with what we call Fundations,” said Rogers. “Saw a lot of growth there.”

The first grade’s goal was to be 75 percent, at, or above, 32 sounds, starting with 22 percent and sitting at 65 percent. In the second grade, their goal was to be 60 percent at, or above, the benchmark in Fastbridge A reading, with a goal of 60 percent; however, they saw a decrease.

In previous years, Cadott used the 30th percentile measurement.

“This year, we chose to up that a little bit to the 40th percentile,” said Rogers, adding that is what the Fastbridge assessment uses. “We did want to use those expectations with that.”

If Cadott was to go back to the 30th percentile, there would be no growth or decrease.

For the third grade, a goal was set to attain 65.4 percent for A reading, which measures overall comprehension. They started, too, saw a decrease, which means there is still a gap in getting to the comprehension.

“That is something that we’re well aware of…” said Rogers.

On the math side of the AGR, the kindergarten had a goal of 90 percent, to identify numerals 0-20, at which they are at 70 percent. The first grade wanted to be at 80 percent at, or above, the benchmark of early math, but saw a decrease.

In second grade, they wanted to have a 64-70 percent mark, but saw a slight decrease. If they would go by the 30th percentile, there would be an increase of 12.2 percent, along with the same for the third grade, who saw a decrease using the 40th percentile.

“The reason why we’re still kind of looking at that 30th percentile, there are pockets of improvement,” said Rogers. “It’s definitely been a process.”

Board member Brad Sonnentag asked what the elementary is doing besides talking to teachers.

“What else are you doing to get us caught up quicker?” he asked.

Rogers says by building a collaborative process, they can break down assessments.

“From there, you teach by the target and you also intervene by the target,” he said. “The end goal is not the data; the end goal is taking that data and then transforming it into action, to intervene and do something different.”

Deb Delyea, special education director, shared that they have weekly progress monitoring on individual students, to determine if it’s a skill or performance deficit.

“It’s not often that it’s a skill deficit, it’s that they just aren’t putting in what we actually think they know into the Fastbridge assessments,” said Delyea.

It was not an action item, but something district administrator Josh Spaeth wanted to bring up – that when paraprofessionals run out of personal days, they have to pay for a sub, which can be a big cost.

“It’s not affordable and things come up,” said Spaeth.

Also discussed, was the per day rate payout on sick days. Board member Rod Tegels said he usually sees straight paid time off (PTO), questioning if the payout is a common practice. Spaeth says only a few districts do that.

Cory LaNou, board president, said that PTO doesn’t really translate, because as a teacher, you don’t really have vacation days, since they technically have the summer off.

“I think something needs to change,” said Spaeth.

Something members did approve, was the resignation of custodian Jeff Golden; and of Tom Weiss as the head coach of cross country and assistant coach of track. It is time for me to move to a new chapter in my life, wrote Weiss. I leave, knowing I gave my all and will miss the aspects of coaching young people, and being part of two outstanding programs.