Rockford Sun

During its November meeting, the North Boone Community Unit School District Board of Education offered its support for Performance Matters, a program that will help the district build and administer assessments for students.

Curriculum Director Kari Neri provided a presentation on the program during the streamed meeting, which would be operated under a 30-month contract and would be used for schools to create and administer their own local assessments for students. She noted that the assessments created by the district could be compared in-house to traditional assessments.

“So when we think about why we want this for North Boone, this really applies to our strategic plan, goal one and then strategies one and three, because Performance Matters will allow us to build and administer priority standard assessments as part of our MTSS and curriculum work,” the director said in the meeting.

Neri also noted that staff in the district already use PowerSchool and are familiar with the system. Teachers have been able to learn how to use the assessments, and the program includes a dashboard that permits teachers to track student progress on any subject. District growth can also be tracked.

Moreover, the program was tested by several district committees and principals.

The initial contract would be for 18 months and cost approximately $27,000. Afterward, the approximate cost would be $12,000 a year. Some programs the district currently pays for would be replicated and no longer needed. Board members agreed to approve the purchase.