Actions With Academics: Mid-Year Academic Review
Actions With Academics: Mid-Year Academic Review
Tristan Chavez
Each year, Gilbert Public Schools conducts a mid-year academic review to examine progress, identify areas for improvement, and ensure students remain on track for success. At the Governing Board meeting on February 10, 2026, the GPS Teaching and Learning Department shared Middle-of-Year (MOY) academic data that showed a clear picture of how students are performing across the district. The data reflects growth, intentional instructional adjustments, and the work of dedicated educators across every campus.
Elementary Success: ELA and Math Foundations
Across the district, 1st-grade Curriculum-Based Measurement of Reading (CBMR), or the number of words a student can fluently read in 1-minute, increased over the past 2 years.
“This is important because research coming out of the State of Arizona says 88% of struggling readers at the end of 1st-grade still struggle at the end of 4th-grade,” said Robert Bircher, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for Elementary Education at GPS. “This is an important marker that we take very seriously.”
While incremental, consistent growth suggests that early intervention systems are working and are replicable across schools.
Over the past two years, 5th-grade English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency rose from 57% to 70%, while the number of students in the “Minimally Proficient” bracket decreased from 25% to 16%.
In mathematics, the district continues to see steady improvement following the adoption of a new curriculum, iReady. Rather than relying on a single training session, teachers have engaged in semesterly trainings to ensure best practices with the new curriculum are upheld. As a result, both 4th-grade and 6th-grade math passing rates have increased by 9% over the past 2 years, rather than an “implementation dip” that is typically seen when a new curriculum is introduced.
By looking at data, GPS identified 6th-grade math as an area for improvement. In response, teachers from 20 different campuses came together for full-day planning sessions ahead of teaching upcoming units. This helped prepare teachers to best present units to their students and improved students’ academic success.
“We have more data than we’ve ever had before, and we’re taking the time to really dive into those so we can identify what pivots we can make before the end of the year,” added Bircher.
Secondary Growth: ACT and Advanced Coursework
The MOY data also shows meaningful academic growth for students across grades 7–12, particularly in English Language Arts, mathematics, science, and advanced placement coursework.
At the junior high level, 7th-grade ELA passing rates have increased to 76.3%, with a notable decrease in students scoring in both the “Minimally” and “Partially” Proficient range. Passing rates in 8th-grade math also rose by 8.8%, which is an important indicator of readiness for high school Algebra I and future advanced math pathways.
High school predictive data from ACT Aspire and ACT assessments show encouraging long-term trends. In 11th-grade math, the percentage of students scoring “Far Below Level” decreased by 57%, dropping from 18.9% to 8.1%. At the same time, students scoring “Above Level” increased significantly from 5.5% to 28% over the same period, which represents an over 500% increase in that group of students.
“These shifts show us that students are not only moving out of the lowest performance bands, but they’re also pushing into higher levels of achievement,” said Dr. Krista Cox, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for Secondary Education at GPS.
Another key area of growth in high school across GPS is the increased participation and success in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Last year, students completed 5,570 AP exams with a pass rate exceeding 80% - a 10% increase in pass rate over the past two years. This goes against the typical decrease in passing rates seen from other districts that have an increased participation in AP courses. For the 2025-2026 school year, GPS is on track to facilitate over 6,200 exams.
Systems That Support the People of GPS
While the data reflects growth, district leaders emphasize that the numbers tell only part of the story.
At GPS, students, staff, and parents are not just data points. Rather, the district aims to connect with students, create with families, and care for communities, and data points support how that goal is achieved.
One of the key drivers of improvement across Gilbert Public Schools is the district’s Continuous Improvement Plan and school Impact Checks. During these structured reviews that take place three times in an academic year, principals and district leaders come together to examine individual campus-level data, identify trends, and determine next steps. Here, the district and each school can make data-driven adjustments during the school year rather than waiting for end-of-year results.
This same approach extends into classrooms through “What I Need” Time, or WIN Time, which provides structured opportunities for targeted intervention and enrichment during the school day. Diagnostic tools such as iReady and ACT Aspire predictive data allow teachers to identify students who are approaching proficiency or who may need additional support, while also ensuring that students who are already meeting standards continue to be challenged.
The district has also worked intentionally to drive more collaboration between departments. As a result of increased collaboration between Special Education and General Education teams, Special Education proficiency in 5th grade increased by 8%.
“The biggest takeaway, I think, from our visits on campuses is that there is complete alignment between groups. It doesn't matter if it's Special Education, advanced learning, traditional, accelerated, you name it - the conversation is just identical in terms of we're all going in the same direction, and our teachers have just embraced so much of what we're doing,” shared Dr. Jared Ryan, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning at GPS.
During the February 10th board meeting, board members noted that progress is reflected not only in the growth of “Highly Proficient” students, but also in the steady reduction of students performing in low proficiency bands.
The mid-year review serves as a reminder that improvement is continuous, ongoing work. Through collaboration, transparency, and a shared commitment to students, the people of GPS continue building forward to inspire excellence in every learner. To learn more about Teaching and Learning at GPS, including our 7-12 academic planning tools and course catalog, visit GilbertSchools.net/Teaching-Learning.