Roseville Area Schools reported largely unchanged Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) proficiency rates in 2025 while emphasizing districtwide efforts to accelerate reading and math growth.

The district’s executive director of teaching and learning, Jake Vondelinde, told the school board on Sept. 25 that Roseville’s reading proficiency was about 45.5% compared with a statewide average of 49.6%, and that overall math proficiency across tested grades was about 37.8%. “We’re not there yet. That’s a brutal fact,” Vondelinde said, and added the district “does not blame our students for our results.”

Vondelinde said state assessments provide a one‑time snapshot of proficiency but are useful for tracking systemwide trends and disparities. The district’s report showed persistent racial gaps in proficiency that range from roughly low twenties to mid‑forties of percentage points, depending on the group and subject. Some cohorts improved: grades 5–8 showed reading gains, eighth grade rose by about 5.3 percentage points, and seventh grade outperformed the statewide average. On math, grades 7 and 11 posted year‑over‑year gains; grade 7 is up about 12 percentage points over three years.

District staff described parallel local growth measures (FastBridge) that break student progress into “aggressive, typical, modest and flat” growth bands. Vondelinde said district screening and progress monitoring show encouraging results in early grades: 64% of the youngest readers had typical or aggressive growth on FastBridge early‑reading measures, and early‑math screenings showed strong typical/aggressive growth in several schools.

To respond to gaps and sustain improvement, the district said it has prioritized structured‑literacy professional development and curriculum changes. Vondelinde noted broad teacher training in LETRS (hundreds of hours reported across two years), rollout of district curriculum materials tied to the science of reading (Amplify, Heggerty and other programs), and additional training this year through a program the presentation referred to as “CARRYALL” (described in materials as the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement Advancing Language and Literacy). He said secondary special‑education, multilingual learner and alternative high‑school teachers also received training last year and that the district expects proficiency effects to become clearer as trained cohorts reach tested grades.

On math, the district continued work with Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) professional development and local curriculum review teams. Vondelinde and board members highlighted Central Park and other buildings as examples where concentrated CGI training and aligned common assessments correspond with gains.

Board members pressed for context about causes of persistent school‑level differences and asked how instructional changes are landing in classrooms. Vondelinde and other administrators said implementation is multi‑year work, teachers reported an initial learning curve, and that feedback this year is more positive as staff become familiar with routines. The district also announced hiring Clarissa Jackson to lead literacy work in the Office of Educational Equity.

The presentation included promises to continue three‑times‑per‑year screening (k–8), targeted interventions and federal/state reimbursement support for intervention staffing through a program described in the meeting as “ADCES” (alternate delivery of specialized services), reported to bring roughly $1 million in reimbursement support for literacy, math and behavior interventions.

The board did not take formal action on the achievement report; it served as the district’s annual data briefing and policy discussion.

The district cited the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) and FastBridge screening as measurement tools and described federal/state obligations for students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).