Davis Elementary School principal Chris Labram told the Senate Education Appropriation Subcommittee that the rural Title I school in Uinta School District achieved the only "super stretch growth" designation in Utah for Ready Math growth after last spring's RISE testing cycle.

The recognition came during a committee meeting that included multiple student organization groups in the audience. Labram said Davis Elementary — a school of about 440 students located roughly 15 minutes east of Vernal — has improved from being a targeted school for improvement to meeting median growth goals in every tested area since the pandemic. "We are the only school in the state of Utah to reach super stretch growth for our scores last spring," Labram said.

The school credited a district-adopted math curriculum, Ready Math, and targeted response-to-intervention work using i‑Ready. Labram explained the combined approach: a strengthened tier 1 classroom program, 30 minutes per day of intervention time, and a requirement that students complete at least two assigned lessons per week in the vendor's program. She told senators the school monitors three Ready Math indicators: placement proficiency, expected typical growth, and a "stretch" growth target meant to close achievement gaps.

Labram shared recent figures showing stretch growth results rising from 37% in 2023 to 39% in 2024, and to 57% in the most recent spring, which qualified the school for the vendor's super-stretch recognition. Labram said staff also use Ready Math growth projections during parent conferences to show where students are expected to land on the RISE scale and to set concrete goals. "We started tracking those kids and making sure that they were completing at least two lessons per week. As soon as we did that, we started seeing other assessments go up," Labram said.

Committee members asked how the gains were produced. Vice Chair Representative McPherson said, "Do you have identified what has led to such an increase in these stretch growth goals?" Labram pointed to the combination of curriculum fidelity, coaching for teachers, use of Ready Math's individual lesson prescriptions for intervention, and ongoing data review in professional learning communities.

Labram also told the panel the school plans to pursue a 65% stretch-growth target this year and described a recent celebration with Ready Math staff and the district superintendent that involved students in schoolwide recognition activities. The presentation closed with the principal inviting committee members to see the school's progress in person and with a short question-and-answer exchange about instructional fidelity and data monitoring.

The committee's public recognition segment placed the school's achievement in the context of districtwide goals: Uinta School District aims for students to score above state averages across the RISE tests by 2026.

Davis Elementary's presentation is part of a broader set of superintendent and school-level updates the subcommittee heard on curriculum and system performance during its October interim meeting. The school's use of a vendor-aligned curriculum, daily intervention time, and explicit lesson completion targets were emphasized repeatedly by Labram as the drivers of recent improvement.

Ending: The committee offered congratulations to the Davis Elementary staff and students; Labram said the school will continue to monitor growth and work on meeting the district's 2026 proficiency goals.