Board reviews Helios projections and discusses Xello, career pathway data and course audits

At Monday’s meeting board members discussed a Helios Foundation analysis that projects graduation and postsecondary-attainment outcomes and maps those outcomes to potential lifetime earnings for Leon County students.

A board member asked that graduation-rate projections and three-year trends by school and demographic be presented regularly so the district can better target funding and programming. The presenter said the Helios report ties projected educational attainment to lifetime income and community economic gains and that more disaggregated data is available.

Board members and staff discussed tools and outreach to help align course offerings with student interests and local labor demand. The career-readiness platform Xello (sometimes referred to in discussion as “Zillow” in the transcript) was cited as a tool the district uses to capture student interests; staff said schools can return student-level Xello data to the district and that the district has piloted using Xello in ninth grade after the WOW event. Several board members suggested expanding use of Xello to earlier (eighth grade) and later (eleventh grade) touchpoints to compare how students’ interests change over time.

Members suggested principals audit course offerings and consider whether some courses are sustained out of habit rather than student demand or postsecondary benefit. The conversation balanced the need to provide marketable pathways with the value of enrichment courses; members noted guidance counselors and school staff should help students choose courses that match postsecondary goals.

Board members asked district staff to continue regular reporting on graduation projections, to share the larger Helios report, and to include Xello-integration plans and data in upcoming workshops.