One strategy to achieve Common Core compliance is to focus on the K-2 student population. That is what the Pocano Mountain School District (10,000 students & located in PA) did. This video shows their methodology and their results.

The issues and pressures on Pocano Mountain are similar to many other districts:

• Too many students not meeting Common Core requirements
• Diverse and transient student population
• Students entering their schools not prepared (40% of the incoming kindergarten students test non-proficient on the DIBELS Next assessment)
• Budget pressure

The results were:

• Significantly reduced the K-2 students falling into the non-proficient category on DIBELS Next (the district began the school year with 35% non-proficient; this percentage was decreased by 12% over a four month period)
• 1,197 K-2 students showed significant development in their reading skills from their pre-test to second semester data
• With the K-2 student population performing better, scores in grades 3-8 will be higher, in time as the students propagate thru the grades.