Duarte Unified reviews December 2024 California School Dashboard; targets long‑term English learners, students with disabilities

Duarte Unified School District staff presented the district’s December 2024 California School Dashboard results at the Feb. 12 board meeting, showing mixed academic outcomes across student groups and prompting targeted plans for long‑term English learners and students with disabilities.

"The California School Dashboard is more than just a collection of numbers," Dr. Kelly Lawson, senior director of educational services, told the board as she opened the study session. She said the dashboard combines academic indicators such as CAASPP/CAST results with local measures including chronic absenteeism, suspension rates and college‑and‑career readiness.

The presentation summarized districtwide and site data. Lawson said the district served 2,980 students at the time the Dashboard data were compiled; 53.5% were socioeconomically disadvantaged, about 21% were identified as English learners and 0.8% were foster youth. On the English language arts CAST measure (grades 3–8 and 11) Lawson said the district averaged about 11.2 points below the standard, with a small change from the prior year (+1.3 points). Mathematics performance was farther below the standard (about 47.3 points below) though the district showed modest year‑over‑year gains (+4.2 points).

Lawson repeatedly emphasized the Dashboard’s change measures — not only raw color indicators — saying, "It presents the status levels from very high to very low. It also gives us information about change," and urged the board and community to "go deeper" than the Dashboard’s first page when judging progress.

Subgroup results drew sustained attention.…