LCAP midyear: Carpinteria USD shows mixed gains; English learners and special education flagged for improvement

Superintendent Diana Rigby presented Carpinteria Unified School District’s midyear update on the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) at the Feb. 25 board meeting, reporting both areas of progress and areas that remain short of the district’s three‑year goals.

Rigby said the LCAP’s five goal areas are student achievement, student well‑being and parent participation, college and career readiness, facilities, and achievement for students with disabilities. She reported midyear expenditures for several goal areas: roughly $1,400,000 for student achievement work (professional development and intervention), $223,717 for student engagement and school culture strategies, and $46,723 for college and career readiness initiatives.

The presentation included test- and enrollment-based outcome data from 2023–24. Rigby highlighted gains in some grades and subgroups: she reported a 12 percentage‑point rise in fifth‑grade English language arts proficiency, a 7‑point gain for eighth grade and a 1‑point gain for 11th grade. The district said it met its grade‑level goal for 5th‑grade ELA and for third‑grade STAR reading (60% at or above grade level). In math, fifth grade increased by 11 points and eighth grade by 4 points; the district said eighth grade met the math goal of 40% at or above grade level.

Rigby also noted challenges. The number of English learners fell from 408 to 331; the district reported 36 students reclassified to fluent English proficient (10.9% reclassification by grade 6), but overall ELPAC proficiency and the share of English learners making progress remained below the district’s three‑year targets. “We expect 30% of our students to score a 4 in the ELPAC,” Rigby said; she reported 36% of English learners making progress toward proficiency and said the district still needed work to reach the 60% reclassification/progress target.

Rigby acknowledged that special education credentialing percentages were below the district goal: the district reported 80% of teachers appropriately assigned and fully credentialed versus a 100% target, and said the shortfall stems in part from new authorizations required for educators working with students on the autism spectrum. She described steps being taken, including targeted interventions, formative assessments and professional development tailored to special education and English learner instruction.

Board members asked for further detail on several metrics during a question‑and‑answer period. A board member asked whether enrollment patterns and staffing changes were contributing to lower CTE pathway completion; district staff said they are investigating and that recent staffing shifts (including an instructor departure) had affected offerings in some pathways but that course enrollment for the current year is up and may increase completions by June. Another board member asked whether low parent participation in the Healthy Kids Survey limited the usefulness of that data; Rigby said student participation was high and that the district compares its adult‑response rates to county norms.

Rigby said some changes already under way include a revised elementary ELD program intended to deliver more targeted small‑group instruction and the use of professional learning communities to monitor student progress by grade and classroom. District leaders said they will refine goals in the June LCAP report and pivot resources for areas that lag.

The board took no formal action on the LCAP midyear presentation; the item was an informational update required under the district’s three‑year LCAP cycle.