Anderson 5 recognizes ACE Academy, instructional leaders outline midyear academic priorities

The Anderson School District Five board on Feb. 3 recognized ACE Academy — the district’s Anderson Center of Excellence alternative program — for earning trauma‑skilled school certification and heard a midyear academic update from the instructional office that emphasized student progress and multilingual learner declines.

Board members and district leaders said the ACE recognition highlights work to support students who have experienced chronic stress and trauma, while the instructional briefing focused on where students are falling behind and how the district plans to accelerate growth.

John Gaylor of the National Dropout Prevention Center presented the ACE Academy plaque, saying the center “works with schools, helps them adjust their practice to help students who have experienced chronic stress and trauma,” and congratulated ACE for completing two years of work to earn the certification.

Joshua Backus, director of ACE Academy, told the board the program serves grades 3–12 and aims to “foster a dynamic learning environment where students feel safe, valued, and empowered.” Backus said last year the program served 34 high‑school students, 42 returned to their home schools, students earned 436 high school credits and 10 students graduated while enrolled at ACE Academy.

Superintendent Dr. Kelly and instructional staff framed the certification and ACE’s mentoring work as part of the district’s broader strategy to address students who need intensive support. The ACE program pairs returning students with mentors “as part of their contract” before they return to home schools, district staff said.

In a longer presentation, the district’s instructional leader (presenting the midyear report cards and data) said school report‑card results were mixed: several elementary schools showed small achievement gains while student progress — the measure of how much students grew compared with peers — declined in many schools. The presenter said changes in how multilingual learners are counted removed monitored students from that calculation and caused apparent drops in those ratings.

The instructional team described the district’s focus areas: aligned curriculum and pacing guides, high‑quality instructional materials, tiered MTSS support, regular classroom observations and targeted professional development (including implementation of the science of reading and Orton‑Gillingham training). Targets noted in the presentation include: 75% of all students proficient by May 2027, 100% of eligible students career ready by May 2027 and 75% of multilingual learners meeting progress targets by May 2027.

Board members asked about mentoring, measurement tools and how MAP assessment conditional growth percentiles compare to state added‑value targets. Staff said they are using MAP conditional growth percentiles now to approximate the state added‑value target (AVT) and will refine comparisons as state tools and data roll out.

The instructional team said principals are meeting with the central office on a tiered schedule (monthly for six schools and tri‑annually for others) to review progress and revise local improvement plans. Staff reported an increase in teacher observations this year using a district tool (2,853 observations cited) and described those observations as the basis for targeted coaching.

The presentation and ACE recognition ended with board members thanking ACE staff and the district instructional team for the work and asking the public and board to visit ACE classrooms.

The meeting’s public comment period earlier included a resident, identified as Mr. Calum, who criticized district leadership and raised operational‑budget comparisons between Anderson 5 and a nearby district; his remarks were taken under public comment and were not part of the board’s instructional presentation.