The Piper School District Board of Education on Oct. 13 heard a presentation of spring 2025 KAP state assessment results and the districts planned steps to use the data as a baseline for improvement.

District assessment lead Dr. Nguyen told the board the state delivered assessment results later than usual because of new cut scores and performance descriptors developed over the summer. "Level 3 is kind of the cutoff for proficiency," Dr. Nguyen said, and the district broke results out by grade and compared combined level 3 and level 4 percentages with the state average.

The presentation showed the district exceeding the state average in English language arts at all tested grades, while math proficiency varied by grade: some grades outperformed the state, others matched it, and grades 3 and 10 fell below. Dr. Nguyen also reported that grade 11 science scores were not released statewide because of calibration issues and therefore were unavailable for Piper.

Why this matters: the district will treat the 2025 results as a new baseline because the state assessments cut scores changed, making direct year-to-year comparisons unreliable. Dr. Nguyen cautioned that "because of the significant changes to the state assessment, taking a look at data from this year and comparing it to data from last year or previous years is really apples to oranges."

District leaders outlined actions tied to tiered instruction: continuing districtwide PLC (professional learning community) rollout to refine priority standards and pacing; building-level "watch lists" that combine KAP results with screeners such as FastBridge and i-Ready plus attendance and behavior indicators; and targeted tier 2 and tier 3 interventions, including I-Ready interventions for K-8 math, 95% Group for K phonics, and Lexia PowerUp for grades 68. At the high school, leaders are piloting an advisory-based pullout approach to provide targeted supports.

Administrators said they will monitor progress through monthly instructional leaders meetings, one-on-one check-ins with principals, and instructional coaching cycles. The district set a target action goal of 75 percent of students performing at level 3 or 4 as part of the work on standards alignment.

Board discussion included clarification that the grade labels reflect students' grade levels as of last school year. Board members and staff stressed the need to treat KAP as one data point among others and to focus on early screening and intervention to close gaps.

The district will continue to refine supports and return with updated data and plans; staff said they expect the assessments administered in 2026 to provide further comparability once new processes stabilize.