FUSD i-Ready Literacy Results– Which schools are showing above average growth?
What progress have FUSD students made in literacy so far this school year? While the results of the end-of-year SBAC assessment won’t be publicly available until fall, schools use other measures throughout the year to measure progress along the way.
FUSD (along with many other districts) utilizes the i-Ready Diagnostic, an adaptive, computer-based test in ELA and math as an interim assessment. Interim assessments are used a few times a year (generally: beginning, middle, and end of year) to provide a bridge between daily classroom assignments and the end-of-year state summative assessments (e.g., SBAC).
This assessment allows us to see how much “growth” students have made since the start of the school year, compared to the “typical” amount of growth that students make on the assessment nationally.
Overall Results
On the winter 2025 i-Ready reading assessment, 33% of Fresno Unified students scored “on” or “above” grade level. Some students not yet “on grade level” also made significant growth between fall and winter. Overall, 32% of students made a whole year’s “typical” growth between the fall baseline and the winter mid-year assessment.
School Spotlights
What schools are showing the strongest growth in literacy so far this year? This article highlights FUSD elementary and K-8 schools that have shown substantial reading growth. Starting with this subset, we explore four different data areas, looking at growth for the overall student population, Black or African American students, Latino students, and English learners. The focus is on students who have already made a full year’s worth of progress at the time of winter testing.
We offer this data in the hope of sparking conversations about bright spots and promising practices in literacy that can be uplifted and replicated throughout our local schools.
Schools Accelerating Growth for All Students
A key measure on i-Ready is “typical growth”– the average annual growth achieved by students nationally and is determined by the student’s grade level and fall starting level.
This year, on average, 32% of FUSD students met 100% or more of a year’s typical growth by the mid-year winter assessment. 34 schools performed at or above this average, and in blue, you can see the top10 elementary/K-8 schools showing the most students meeting or exceeding typical growth targets in reading.
Schools Accelerating Growth for Black or African American Students
Which schools in FUSD are leading in growth among Black or African American students? This year, on average 31% of FUSD Black or African American elementary students made at least one year’s typical growth by mid-year. Let’s take a look at the top 10 schools (in blue) and how they are supporting Black or African American student literacy.
Schools Accelerating Growth for Latino Students
Who’s making strides in literacy for Latino students in Fresno Unified? This year, 32% of FUSD Latino elementary school students met one full year’s typical growth by mid year. Let’s take a look at the top 10 schools (in blue) and how they are supporting Latino student literacy.
Schools Accelerating Growth for English Learner Students
Which schools in Fresno Unified are excelling in literacy support for English learners? This year, 29% of English learner students met one year’s typical growth in reading in English by mid-year. This overall rate is lower than we saw for other groups in this analysis, but many schools are well-above this district average. Let’s take a look at the top 10 schools (in blue) and how they are supporting English learner student literacy.
Congratulations to all of the schools that produced significant growth for their students in reading!
What’s next?
To see many students having made a whole year’s “typical” growth by the mid-year (winter) i-Ready assessment is very promising. FUSD has implemented a number of strong literacy practices in recent years, aligned with the Every Child is a Reader literacy plan, which the district adopted in 2023.
The plan was designed as a “blueprint” to aid schools in carrying out their own literacy plans, with sections on preschool-first grade classroom instruction, high-quality supports, and family and community partnerships. Each of the district’s seven regions created their own regional plan within this, and there is also information on district-wide departments focused on English learners, dual-language instruction, African American Academic Acceleration (A4), early learning, and special education.
Although the regional plans share a common structure and organization, the content and strategy of each region is somewhat different. Now that we are almost two full years into this plan, an important next step will be to look at student outcomes in these regions (including from the i-Ready data) to determine which of the regional approaches are producing the strongest results or most growth and identify practices that should be replicated district-wide.
What can families do?
Start by asking for your child’s i-Ready results. Your teacher or principal should be able to print out a score report for you, if they haven’t shared it with you already. Look for how they scored in the fall and winter and note what progress has been made. You can look at overall results, but also how they scored in different domains. You may see results such as “approaching grade level” “at grade level” “above grade level” or “needs improvement.” See this guide for more on how to interpret the score report or go to https://i-readycentral.com/familycenter/ for more information (English, Spanish, Hmong).
If your students’ results are not showing progress over time, or if they are well below “grade level” or “need improvement,” reach out to your teacher. You can ask them about what your student needs to end the school year strongly, what the teacher recommends for summer and whether your student qualifies for any special summer programming, and what should be done to help set your student up for success next year. If there are significant concerns about your student’s progress, you can request an “SST” (Student Success Team) meeting to collaborate with the school to ensure a plan is made, or to move toward a comprehensive reading assessment for your child.
See our blog for more information about ways you can support your students’ literacy growth this summer.