Lawndale Unified district staff presented recent monitoring data showing mixed progress for students learning English and emphasized attendance as a key barrier to improvement.

District presenters said teachers focused on a single domain (listening, speaking, reading or writing) during a designated instructional period, and compared preliminary and post assessments to measure gains. The presenter noted that, districtwide in 2023–24, 46.3% of English learners made “adequate progress” on the progress indicator used by the district, a result the presenter described as placing the district in an “orange” category and short of the green target.

Why it matters: the district uses multiple interim measures to guide instruction and reclassification decisions. Staff described i‑Ready reports and the statewide dashboard as tools parents can use to see how their children are performing and to follow growth over time. The presenter demonstrated the California School Dashboard site’s language selector and showed parents how to find Lawndale Elementary and other schools in the district.

Staff also detailed assessment timing. They said the statewide ELPAC (English Language Proficiency Assessments for California) testing window runs February 1–May 31 and that Lawndale plans to begin local testing the week of Feb. 3 with the goal of finishing before spring break at many sites. For kindergarten and first grade students, staff said initial ELPAC tasks focus on listening and speaking, while grades 3–8 take all four domains (listening, speaking, reading and writing). The presenter added that students in dual‑immersion programs take a separate Spanish proficiency check.

Attendance emerged as a prominent concern. Presenters said chronic absenteeism is concentrated among long‑term English learners — students who have been classified as English learners for more than seven years — and cited a district figure that 38% of that group missed more than a month of school in the year examined. Staff urged parents to prioritize daily attendance and noted absences limit the benefit of instructional interventions.

Parents were shown how to interpret i‑Ready reports and district dashboard indicators and were invited to raise questions with classroom teachers or their school’s liaison. Staff said the district sends school‑level letters to homes and circulates data internally so principals and SCC (School Site Council) members can request resources where needed.

District staff stressed that the next steps include returning to school councils with targeted data and identifying strategies that have shown success. They said families will receive report letters from Lawndale Elementary and other sites and were encouraged to use the dashboard and i‑Ready video resources if they need help reading reports.