By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

The Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education met Feb. 9 for their regularly scheduled meeting and heard a student achievement data presentation from district data specialist Missy Butki.

The district has become accustomed to these presentations in which district data is compiled among first-grade through eighth-grade students district-wide using nationally-normed benchmark assessments for reading and math. The assessments are done through state-approved vendor, FastBridge Learning.

“The benchmarks and norms that were set have not changed. Those were set and those mean grade level equivalencies and they also help us determine which kids are at high risk of not meeting state assessments,” Butki said. “So, those are the same was they were fall of 2019-20 as they are in fall of 2021-22 and they do help us identify where ewe have need and what students are making it and which students need intervention.”

Currently, 71 percent of K-8 students are meeting reading benchmarks and 73.5 percent are meeting math benchmarks.

“Historically, we’re somewhere between 75 and 79 percent, and then each one percent is about 45 to 50 kids,” said Butki.

Between the fall and winter semesters of the 2019-20 school year, the percentage of K-8 students meeting reading benchmarks was 74 percent. Students were sent home in March of 2020 and in the winter of 2020-21 the percentage dropped to 60 percent. After that decrease, the district saw improvement over the following semesters.

District data also showed that between the summer months of the 2020-21 to 2021-22 school years, there was no “summer slide”. The “summer slide” refers to the slight academic regression of students after summer vacation.

“This flat line from summer to fall is a big deal. We didn’t slide backwards. We had some programs in place and we maintained that percentage of students meeting benchmarks and here we are now, fall to winter, going back up the mountain,” Butki said.

In the fall of 2020-21, Butki presented data that showed 49 percent of first-graders that year (class of 2032) were at risk of not meeting benchmarks (29 percent some risk, 20 percent high risk), the highest high-risk population the district had seen.

This year, in the now second-grade class, data showed an decrease to 31 percent of students at risk of not meeting benchmarks, just two percentage points below where the percentage sat before students were sent home in March of 2020.

The district is also seeing some improvement in math, but not as drastic as reading.

“Math is a little bit different. Math is that linear learning. You have to master a skill before the next skill and build upon and build upon. So, our math growth does look as significant as our reading growth, but you can see that we started to climb. We fell during our remote and pandemic situations, then from winter to spring we were picking back up,” Butki said.

“Math does typically have a summer slide, more than reading, because if you don’t use it, you lose it, and it builds upon each other but we are starting to climb back up again.”

From the fall of 2021-22 to winter 2021-22, the only elementary grade level that saw a slight dip in meeting benchmarks was 3rd grade, which dropped about two percent from 75 percent in the fall. The district is continuing to look into this dip, Butki said.

Middle School

At the middle school level, the seventh-grade class saw a decent-sized jump of about 8 percent — from about 71 percent to 79 percent. Sixth-grade dropped down to 80 percent from about 83 percent, while eighth grade only dropped about one percentage point from 78 percent to 77 percent not at risk of meeting benchmarks, district data showed.

Social Emotional Learning Data

Recently, the district also started collecting social emotional learning (SEL) data.

In grades 1-5, teachers filled out a survey of their students based on several competencies related to CASEL (Collaborative for Academic Social Emotional Learning). The district provided a presentation on elementary social emotional learning and CASEL at their Jan. 26 meeting.

Data showed that there was a difference in the social emotional learning needs between buildings. One building found they needed to focus on grades one and two while another had to focus more on emotional behaviors in grade-five.

This is the first time that SEL data has been available, but it is expected that the district will continue to compare the social emotional data, much like they do with the academic data.

Students in fourth through eighth grades also participate in the mySAEBRS screener.

With all of this collective data, the district found that some of the reading data between Kindergarten and first grade were building or classroom specific which allowed the district to get involved and find what was specifically needed for those students, classrooms or schools and deliver the necessary intervention. The district has also made a temporary shift in interventionalists.

For math, according to Butki, the district’s school improvement team has spent time looking at a math goal created through MICIP (Michigan Integrated Continuous Improvement Process) and are focusing on district wide strategies and monitoring to help close the gap in achievement.

Socially and emotionally, the district has changed a bit of what Family School Coordinators originally did to better fit the district’s needs as of right now, said Butki. The district also hired additional general educators for more support.

The next steps for LOCS include additional monitoring of K/1 data, analysis of middle level SEL data, monitoring additional math strategies, possibly bringing mySAEBRS to the high school and preparation for spring state testing.