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District high‑school teams report literacy gains, outline supports for students below grade level
Summary
Middleton High School and Clark Street Community School presented improvement plans focused on literacy, interventions for students reading below grade level and expanded professional learning for special education staff. School leaders said early indicators show gains but acknowledged persistent gaps for some demographic groups.
Middleton High School administrators and Clark Street Community School leaders told the Board of Education on Jan. 27 that a multi‑year focus on literacy, aligned standards and targeted interventions has produced measurable gains but that work remains on equity and students with disabilities.
Clark Street Principal Jill Gerner said Clark Street uses a schoolwide literacy rubric and regular cycles of drafting, feedback and revision. "We use a common set of school wide rubrics for all reading and writing," Gerner said. She described the charter school's competency‑based model and partnerships with Middleton High School instructional coaches and national organizations to assess and strengthen literacy and competency skills.
The high school's team described a two‑part strategy: aligning course standards and instruction inside professional learning communities (PLCs) and increasing supports for students who struggle with grade‑level reading. Associate principals and coaches said PLCs are central to selecting grade‑level standards, turning them into student‑friendly learning targets and choosing tasks that reliably measure mastery.
Carmen (last name on file) described Principles of Literacy, an intervention for students scoring below the 10th percentile on the STAR screener. "At the beginning of the semester, we had 63 students enrolled," she said. "Forty of them were at that urgent intervention level. This semester we've exited 15 students from the program and I think we only have 12 students now still in that urgent intervention category." The presentation reported that 96% of students who completed the intervention scored higher on STAR in the following assessment window.
Middleton High School staff also highlighted work with WestEd recommendations for special education. Liz Merrick, associate principal for student services, said the school has implemented a co‑teaching model and convened multi‑day trainings with WestEd to improve specially designed instruction and to better calibrate individualized education programs (IEPs). She noted measurable indicators: dropout rates for students with disabilities are at multi‑year lows and ACT results for that cohort have improved since 2022.
Board members asked about PLC time and how the high school balances common planning with large department schedules. Administrators acknowledged time is limited, saying some teachers sit in multiple PLCs and the district is exploring supports such as additional training and safeguarded common planning time. Board members also asked whether students in intervention are mostly new to the district; administrators said some have been in the district long term and they will present more longitudinal data at a forthcoming learning session.
The presentation closed with program expansion notes: two additional CAPS programs (education and digital media marketing) will be added next year, bringing the high school's total to four programs.
The presentation was information only; there was no formal board vote on the curriculum items.
