Principals report midyear gains: concurrent enrollment, AP participation and K‑3 literacy trending up
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Sign Up Free
Summary
School principals presented midyear data showing increased participation in concurrent enrollment and AP programs, progress on multilingual learner supports, early literacy gains in K‑3, and reduced disciplinary placements following a student cell‑phone policy at the high school.
At a midyear check‑in, principals from the district’s elementary, middle and high schools described academic initiatives and shared preliminary data showing modest gains in several areas.
Highlights presented by principals and district staff include increased concurrent‑enrollment participation, steady AP course offerings and testing, improvements in K‑3 reading proficiency at midyear, observed progress for multilingual learners (MLLs), and anecdotal and incident‑data reductions after implementing a cell‑phone‑free policy at the high school.
High school: Principal Roger (introduced by the district) said 668 students were enrolled in concurrent‑enrollment classes this year, generating about 4,400 college credit hours through a local university partnership; the school offers 37 concurrent classes. He also reported expanded AP participation, noting the school offers 29 AP classes across roughly 110 sections with about 2,061 exams planned. The principal said the school is also reviewing how to help students recoup lost credits beyond the current online recovery option (Edgenuity).
Multilingual learners and interventions: Several principals described large newcomer cohorts this year and credited targeted instruction and professional development for strong conversational English gains in many students. District leaders described an emphasis on tiered instruction (tier 1/tier 2/tier 3), use of word walls and sentence stems, and school‑level strategies for vocabulary and language production. One principal said observational progress for new MLL students from August to midyear had been “exceptional.”
Behavior and cell‑phone policy: A secondary principal presented incident data comparing suspensions and placement changes before and after a cell‑phone policy. Quarter 1 this year had 6 such incidents versus 19 in Quarter 1 last year; Quarter 2 this year had 12 incidents versus 33 in Quarter 2 last year. The principal described anecdotal benefits such as more students engaging socially in the cafeteria and fewer office referrals tied to phone‑related disputes.
K‑3 literacy and curriculum: The district reported midyear K‑3 reading benchmarks improved from roughly 57% at the start of the year to 63% by midyear in 3rd grade; end‑of‑year target figures and final outcomes remain pending. District leaders pointed to curriculum adoption (95%/Wit & Wisdom) and targeted early‑intervention software as part of the strategy to raise literacy.
What board heard: District staff and principals said the presentations reflect a concerted instructional focus — common professional learning communities (PLCs), targeted small‑group instruction and aligned curricular materials — with more complete assessment data due at the end of the school year.