Clover Park board weighs new student-growth metrics, asks for disaggregated data and clearer accountability measures

Board President opened the second day of the Clover Park School District planning meeting and asked the group to review the district’s vision, mission, beliefs and values before moving into formulation of goals and accountability measures. "I'm calling day 2 of the board planning meeting to order," the board president said.

The board discussed keeping six overarching goals: student growth and achievement; parent and community engagement; communication with stakeholders; supportive and equitable learning environments; recruitment, staff retention and professional development; and fiscal responsibilities. Directors requested staff to bring back clearer, measurable metrics for those goals, with an emphasis on tracking student growth and looking beyond a single state test.

Why it matters: board members said disaggregated data is essential to identify inequities and target supports. Several directors pressed for measures that would reveal gaps by race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, and for metrics that capture student-level growth rather than a one-off proficiency rate.

Most substantive requests and discussion points

- Student-growth metrics: Directors asked staff to add student growth percentiles and to propose which growth measures should be used instead of relying solely on Smarter Balanced proficiency. The board noted Smarter Balanced may not be the most effective growth measure and asked for alternatives (for example, growth percentiles or course-specific pass rates such as algebra).

- Disaggregation: Multiple directors asked that indicators (graduation rates, course pass rates, access to AP/CTE classes, chronic absence, suspensions) be reported disaggregated by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status so the board can identify where gaps…