{"id":118957,"date":"2026-02-20T10:51:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T10:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/118957\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T10:51:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T10:51:33","slug":"easton-area-school-district-reports-academic-progress-in-some-grades-levels-declines-in-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/118957\/","title":{"rendered":"Easton Area School District reports academic progress in some grades levels, declines in others"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the school year more than halfway done, Easton Area School District<\/a> administrators are reporting a mixed academic performance<\/a> from students. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re continuing to monitor it and find improvement methods. <\/p>\n

EASD presented a mid-year academic review at a recent school board meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Benita Draper said the district is working toward having 75% of kindergarten students proficient in English language arts and math this year, with a long-term goal of 80% by 2026-27.<\/p>\n

She added that the district aims to have 75% of third graders reading on or above grade level.<\/p>\n

Using Acadience<\/a> as the K-5 literacy screener, Director of Teaching and Learning K-5 Jennifer Hilton reported mixed results. Kindergarten students improved from 54% to 62% at or above benchmark from the beginning to the middle of the year, while second graders increased from 65% to 67%.<\/p>\n

Hilton said first grade performance remained steady at 54% at or above benchmark, despite higher mid-year expectations. Fifth grade showed significant growth, rising from 38% to 50% at or above benchmark.<\/p>\n

She reported a decline in third grade, which dropped from 66% to 59% at or above benchmark. There were also slight decreases in fourth grade.<\/p>\n

Hilton said second and third grades show widening gaps between students who decode automatically and those who struggle, affecting fluency and comprehension. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo when we start asking them and demanding them to read academic on-level text, they\u2019re struggling if they don\u2019t have that automaticity, and they\u2019re decoding, and that\u2019s where the intervention becomes so important,\u201d Hilton said.<\/p>\n

Director of Teaching and Learning 6-12 Michael Koch said fifth through eighth grades showed increases in students at or above benchmark in reading, with strong growth in middle school.<\/p>\n

In math, Koch said six out of eight grade levels improved their at-or-above benchmark rates, including double-digit gains in first and seventh grades. Second and fourth grades showed flat or slightly declining results.<\/p>\n

Koch said between first and eighth grades, 70% of students are meeting growth targets, which is considered excellent progress. He said several grades had 60-70% of students meeting growth targets, with first grade and eighth grade math around 74%.<\/p>\n

Administrators said multiple programs support instruction and intervention. Acadience, STAR and IXL are key assessment tools, while Hilton and Koch said the district is prioritizing core curriculum programs such as Wonders in elementary ELA and Reveal in math.<\/p>\n

Board President Jodi Hess questioned whether strict adherence to Wonders limits teachers\u2019 ability to adjust timelines when students need additional time to master skills.<\/p>\n

Hess also expressed concern that the district may be relying too heavily on a single program and potentially reducing other differentiation tools such as IXL. She pointed to current proficiency rates, noting that in some areas about half of students remain below basic or well below basic, and questioned whether the district is on track to meet its 75% goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I am going to say is that our teachers do a phenomenal job. The work that they\u2019re doing is hard work, and there is room for creativity, but it has to be explicit instruction. It has to be scientifically based, and that has to be approved by their principal,\u201d Hess said.<\/p>\n

Draper explained that next steps include protecting instructional time, strengthening core instruction and improving progress monitoring and intervention systems. She said the district began implementing structured literacy in 2024-25, ahead of the state\u2019s 2027-28 requirement.<\/p>\n

She said she is proud of teachers and administrators for the practices being implemented into the classroom. She noted that classroom observations show strong routines and planning that maximize instructional time and support student learning. <\/p>\n

Draper added that teachers are not only teaching, but students are making real connections to what they\u2019re learning and applying it to real-world situations. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur students can do it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was really exciting to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the school year more than halfway done, Easton Area School District administrators are reporting a mixed academic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-118957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}