Dr. Jennifer Reichel, Director of Teaching and Learning, Mahtomedi Public Schools
Mahtomedi Public Schools
Mahtomedi Families and Staff,
As summer winds down, we’re excited to welcome students back and begin a new year focused on learning and growth. Our staff are deeply engaged in planning to ensure we start the year with clarity and focus. This August has been especially full as we’ve concentrated on two key investments across our district. In this Teaching and Learning Update, I’ll share more about those efforts along with some highlights from the newly released MCA data.
Thank you for your partnership and support as we begin another school year together.
Investment One: Literacy
We continue to build momentum with our commitment to literacy improvement, and we are proud of the progress our teachers and leaders have made. Our investment in literacy reflects a long-term commitment to ensure that every student develops the strong reading and writing skills needed for success in school and beyond.
This year, we wrap up the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling(LETRS) professional learning for our elementary and special education staff.
We will begin the second year of implementing our new elementary resource, Wit and Wisdom.
Our middle school will begin implementing Amplify, a literacy curriculum resource designed to strengthen student engagement while building on the rigorous expectations established through our Wit and Wisdom implementation.
Investment Two: College and Career Readiness
We're continuing to invest in programs that help middle and high school students build the skills they need for success now and after high school. From classroom instruction strategies to teacher training, our focus is on preparing every student to thrive now as well as in college, careers, and life.
This year marks our third year of AVID implementation, a teaching tool that focuses on strong reading and writing skills, organization, and study strategies for success. Our early focus on organization has given students the tools they need to stay on track, and now we are expanding into other areas of WICOR—writing, inquiry, collaboration, and reading—to give all students access to rigorous academic experiences.
Every middle and high school teacher in our district has participated in AVID professional learning—whether by attending the three-day, content-specific Summer Institute or by engaging in colleague-led sessions designed by the AVID organization.
This year, we will continue our progress in the implementation of our Portrait of a Graduate, which defines the skills, competencies, and dispositions our students need to be globally positioned for success. Our secondary teachers will be evaluating their courses for opportunities to demonstrate and practice the Portrait areas.
MCA Data
MCA data for the 2024-25 school year was recently released by the Minnesota Department of Education. Families will receive Individual Student Reports later in the fall when science scores are released.
Important to Know About Mahtomedi’s 2025 MCA Data: Mahtomedi Public Schools’ 2025 MCA math and reading scores are among the top independent school districts in the state and we continue to outperform neighboring districts.
The Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs), are one important measure that helps us understand how well our system is serving students. These tests, given once a year, are not the whole data story of a student, but they do give us valuable insight that our leaders and educators use alongside daily classroom assessments to guide academic programming and instructional improvements for teachers.
The MCAs are assessments aligned to Minnesota’s academic standards in reading, mathematics, and science. All students in public and charter schools take the assessments in the spring in grades 3-8 and once in high school. While reading and math are used for school accountability, science is not. Because Minnesota introduced new standards and a new science test last year, statewide results are not available to schools until October, and families will receive that information in the fall.
MCA Results
This year, we are encouraged by areas of growth as we see the effects of our focus on early literacy. I would like to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of our teachers, literacy leads, and principals in enhancing classroom instruction and adopting new curricula to support high levels of student learning. We are also thankful for the School Board’s commitment to investing in literacy improvement.
With continued investment in literacy resources, teacher training, and a focus on academic skill building, we are seeing improved results.
Third-grade math and reading proficiency increased by 3% and 3.5% respectively.
Fifth-grade reading proficiency increased by 7%. Typically, in the first year of implementation of a new resource, you might expect a dip in results.
Our high school also saw increases in math and reading of over 3%.
Overall, our district results increased slightly in reading, 68.9%, and math, 71% while statewide results decreased slightly.
Our Continuous Improvement Response
We commit to ensuring the highest level of student achievement. District and school leadership teams are using the MCA results, along with AP, ACT, and local data, to shape curriculum and instructional improvement for the 2025–26 school year, including:
Strengthening the alignment of the curriculum with grade-level standards.
Strengthening literacy foundations and building toward increasing independence in reading.
Writing across the content areas at the secondary level to improve critical thinking, communication, and as a tool for deeper learning.
Your partnership plays an integral role in the success of our students - thank you.
