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District outlines use of Achievement Gap Reduction grant; officials promise disaggregated gap metrics in June report
Summary
Assistant Superintendent Sam Coleman reviewed the district's midyear Achievement Gap Reduction grant report and the three allowable uses: tutoring, class‑size reduction and instructional coaching.
Assistant Superintendent Sam Coleman presented a midyear update on the Achievement Gap Reduction (AGR) grant, explaining who can receive the funds and the allowable strategies.
Coleman said the AGR program stems from Wisconsin Acts 53 and 71 and is administered through the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). He summarized the three statutorily allowed strategies: tutoring (direct student support), class‑size reduction, and professional development/instructional coaching.
Coleman described how the district selects strategies for particular schools, citing space and staffing constraints: "The school itself would have to have the capacity to have the number of classrooms available to distribute students in an 18 to 1 space... space matters and then also the staffing model for those schools then also would impact our ability to... sustain that." He said some schools, such as Jefferson, have used class‑size reduction while others (for example Menominee Elementary) lack room to do so.
Board members pressed for clearer measures of gap reduction. Coleman agreed the current reporting template did not sufficiently show whether gaps are closing and pledged, "I will work with the Department of Public Instruction or our team to create a way that we can include that metric in here" and to include it in the June update.
Ending: The board heard the midyear AGR report and asked staff to return with disaggregated, gap‑focused metrics and school‑level strategy details in a future report.
