BKW elementary students outpacing peers in i-Ready achievement - Berne-Knox-Westerlo Central School District

i-Ready achievement scores from the 2020-21 school year show that BKW students are outpacing their peers from every other district in the region and many from across the state.

“Such amazing work,” Eastern NY i-Ready educational consultant, Angela Gitto, told the Board of Education. “The amount of growth that was made in one year is just fantastic. Your growth is certainly there even during a pandemic, and I didn’t see this everywhere. And we know that with growth comes student proficiency (in Math and Reading).”

Gitto, who is also a parent in the school district, made a presentation on BKW i-Ready results from the spring of 2021 at the October school board meeting. You may watch Gitto’s recorded presentation to the school board at the 2:00-minute mark on YouTube at the link below:

At that presentation and on the slides below, the data from the spring of 2021 indicates that BKW K-6 students made tremendous progress last year, despite learning in a pandemic. In fact, the average growth for the entire population was 131 percent, which means the average/median level student grew in proficiency 1 and ⅓ years in a single year.

“Our students, and families, did an amazing job last school year, and during the school closure due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the spring of 2020,” said BKW Superintendent Dr. Timothy Mundell. “The digital platform (i-Ready) provided targeted materials for each individual student, and students engaged those materials extremely well. We are proud of that work and the results.”

i-Ready is an online program for Reading and Mathematics that assists teachers in determine students’ specific skill levels and academic needs so they can work to increase student learning gains. i-Ready enables educators to personalize student learning and monitor progress throughout the school year at a pace that right for the pupil. The computer lessons are designed to be fun and interactive to keep students engaged as they learn.

Dr. Mundell added that BKW staff has worked closely together to make sure district Math and ELA programs are aligned with New York State learning standards and that classroom lessons reflect those standards. i-Ready instruction is a large part of that.

What Is i-Ready?

Here are some slides from the October i-Ready presentation with an explanation below each slide:

BKW overall iReady growth 2021 chart — BKW surpassed the growth targets for the year with the median percentage of student progress to growth reaching 131% for Reading and 126% for Math.

BKW ES EOY Reading chart — BKW End of year Growth 2021 in Reading, shows an increase of on grade level students from 37% in fall of 2020, to 62% in late spring of 2021. Overall student proficiency also increased from 18% to 44%. Students achieving below grade level decreased from 30% in fall 2020, to 17% in late spring of 2021.

BKW EOY Math growth 2021 chart — BKW End of Year Growth 2021 in Math shows an increase of on grade level students from 15% in fall 2020, to 64% in late spring of 2021. Increased proficiency in Math increased from 6% to 43%, overall. At the same time, students scoring below grade level decreased from 22% in fall of 2020 to only 6% in late spring of 2021.