Mountain Vista Elementary spotlights math, literacy and new student programs to district board

Mountain Vista Elementary Principal Christine McDaniels told the Fillmore Unified School District Board of Trustees that the school is concentrating on math proficiency, daily writing and family engagement as part of an ongoing school improvement plan.

McDaniels presented classroom- and site-level work to support the district Local Control and Accountability Plan, saying Mountain Vista has used instructional coaches, professional learning communities and partnerships with California Education Partners and UCLA thought partners to model lessons, debrief practice and revise common formative assessments.

The school’s math work centers on increasing students’ ability to explain mathematical reasoning rather than only teaching standard algorithms, McDaniels said. She cited recent learning labs and demonstration lessons in grades K–5 and shared spring assessment comparisons: overall school math proficiency on state-aligned assessments was 18.8% in 2024 (up slightly from 18.3% in 2023), with third-grade proficiency at about 25% and fourth grade at about 16%. McDaniels said the district and site are using those data to refine instruction and to target professional development.

On literacy, staff implemented daily writing binders for K–5 and a short “morning message” routine that teachers use to address standards in brief, daily lessons. The site reported a 5.3% increase in English language arts results year over year and larger cohort gains for students tracked across third through fifth grade.

McDaniels and staff also described targeted work for multilingual learners. The school identified a drop of about 3.7% among the 78 English learners who took the CAST last year and said teachers are using common exit tickets and cross-class comparisons to find and spread successful practices.

Mountain Vista highlighted curricular supports provided by district TOSAs (teachers on special assignment): the math TOSA modeled open tasks and co-teaching in classrooms; the multilingual learner TOSA modeled ELD lessons and guidance on the English language proficiency platform; and the literacy coach worked with grade-level teams to revise writing materials.

Student enrichment and family engagement were also emphasized. McDaniels described a new coding club for K–5 that meets twice weekly before school, expanded robotics for upper grades, and regular family events including coffee with principals, family game nights and “dance with a loved one.” She said fifth graders toured UCSB and will visit UCLA this month as part of college-and-career readiness activities.

Students from Mountain Vista’s coding club spoke to the board about the program’s appeal and mechanics. The site recognized classified staff and retiring employees during the presentation, and trustees praised the site team’s use of data and instructional coaching.

Trustees asked questions and commended the site’s combination of data analysis and student-facing activities. McDaniels closed by inviting continued family involvement at upcoming events.

Ending: The Mountain Vista presentation was given as part of the regular board meeting and will inform site-level approval of the Single Plan for Student Achievement when that plan returns to the board as an action item at a future meeting.