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Board hears Helios Foundation projections and discusses CLT testing, Xello career tool
Summary
Board member Smith presented Helios Foundation projections tying graduation and postsecondary attainment to lifetime earnings; members also discussed the district’s choice of the Classical Learning Test (CLT) as the state‑funded high‑school test option, and staff described Xello career‑interest tools and plans to expand student access.
Board member Smith presented an excerpt of a Helios Foundation report that projects how educational attainment affects lifetime earnings and the county’s economic outlook. Smith asked the board to make graduation‑rate projections and trend analysis a regular discussion topic to inform funding and program decisions.
“The beauty of this particular document is not only does it offer projections for expected attainment rates for the community, but also projections of the lifetime ... income status by educational level,” Smith said, summarizing the report.
The board also discussed the district’s state‑funded high‑school test choice. District staff said the state pays for one end‑of‑year college‑entrance test (options include SAT, ACT and CLT). Staff reported that high‑school test coordinators and principals voted to use the Classical Learning Test (CLT) this year because it currently gives more students opportunities to reach Bright Futures scholarship thresholds and to meet certain concordance requirements for graduation. Staff said the CLT may align less well with some curricula and may be less portable for students leaving the state, but schools may still offer SAT or ACT opportunities separately.
Members discussed career‑interest and pathway tools. Staff described Xello (a college‑and‑career readiness platform) and noted the district has been using the tool with ninth graders at the WOW event and that it can be expanded into earlier grades and used to compare ninth‑ to eleventh‑grade interests. The board discussed using Xello data to better align course offerings, internships and local workforce needs.
Board members requested regular workshop time on graduation‑rate trends, disaggregated outcomes and how course offerings link to postsecondary success. Staff said they would return data and consider scheduling a workshop.
