Restore Academic Excellence
The Challenge:
The Troy School District (TSD) has yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic on state standardized assessments and needs to accelerate its recovery to previous levels of academic excellence.
Why This Matters:
Educational research and the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) has identified that three of the most critically important milestones over the course of a K-12 student’s academic career are:
- 3rd Grade English Language Arts (ELA) Proficiency;
- 8th Grade Mathematics Proficiency; and
- 11th Grade College Readiness.
Unfortunately, on all three measures, the TSD has struggled to recover to pre-COVID levels of excellence.
Click to read more about 3rd grade ELA
Troy has fallen from 74.0% proficient in Grade 3 ELA on M-STEP in 2018-19 to 67.9% (-6.1 percentage points [pp]). To put that another way, where Troy ranked 7th in 2018-19 among traditional public school districts, we ranked 12th in 2024-25. Most importantly, these declines are driven by increases in achievement gaps (see Research Brief #2 and future blog posts). That is simply unacceptable. Being able to read at grade-level by the end of 3rd Grade is essential not just to future mastery of ELA, but for learning content in other subjects.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, achieving proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA) by the end of 3rd Grade is a critical milestone for a child’s future success. This is the point where students transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Students who are not proficient readers by this age are significantly more likely to struggle academically, and are at a much higher risk of not graduating from high school, much less college. Therefore, not reading at grade-level by the end of 3rd Grade can limit their career opportunities and earning potential throughout their lives.
Click to read more about 8th grade Math
The story is similar when it comes to 8th Grade Mathematics as measured by the PSAT: Troy has experienced a decline from 75.1% proficient in 2018-19 to 64.3% in 2024-25 (-10.8 pp). Or, alternatively, a drop from 4th in the state among traditional public school districts in 2018-19 to 11th in 2024-25. As with 3rd Grade ELA, a vast extant body of academic research has identified 8th Grade Math as a very strong predictor of educational outcomes in both high school, college, and even post-secondary outcomes.
Table 1: 3rd Grade ELA and 8th Grade Math Proficiency in Troy School District, 2015-16 to 2024-25
Source: MISchoolData.org
Click to read more about 11th grade College Readiness
<coming soon>
Strategic Initiatives:
- Diversify program offerings: Meet all students’ interests, language strengths, and differentiated learning needs
- Ensure strong foundational literacy skills: Leverage our early childhood programs, research-based reading instruction, and more effective intervention strategies
- Improve services for special student populations: Target critical at-risk populations to accelerate learning and close achievement gaps
- Organize school improvement structures: Utilize school improvement plans and school leadership teams to offer more focused and dedicated support to ensure mutual accountability at the school-level based on regular reviews of student data
- Support all students’ grade-level learning: Maintain meaningful on-grade level content and expectations through curriculum and instruction for all students that is paired with data-driven interventions and accelerations where needed to meet the differentiated instructional needs of all students
Key Results for Restoring Academic Excellence
- Key Result 4.1: Improve 3rd grade ELA proficiency on M-STEP from 68% (2024-25) to 75% by 2028-29 (it was 74% in 2018-19)
- Key Result 4.2: Improve 8th grade Math proficiency on PSAT from 64% (2024-25) to 75% by 2028-29 (it was 75% in 2018-19)
- Key Result 4.3: Improve 11th grade College Readiness (defined as scoring on the SAT at least a 480 on the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing [EBRW] and at least a 530 on Math) from 59% (2024-25) to 70% by 2028-29 (it was 70% in 2018-19)
- Key Result 4.4: Reduce achievement gaps for Economically Disadvantaged, English Language Learners, and Students with Disabilities on 3rd grade ELA, 8th grade Math, and 11th grade College Readiness by 10 percentage points by 2028-29 (see future blog post on achievement gaps)