Evergreen Public Schools on Jan. 14 presented a new five‑year instructional leadership plan and reported measurable gains in attendance and interim assessment participation.

District staff said the plan will align principals, teachers and departments around three outcomes: instructional leadership by administrators, high‑impact professional learning communities for teachers, and district–school partnerships to support instruction. Learning Labs — structured classroom observations where educators reflect on practice — are a core feature of the plan.

The board was told the district set a target to reduce chronic absenteeism by 10% this year. District staff reported that districtwide attendance for October–November improved by 6% compared with the same period last year, and they recognized four schools with the largest gains: Heritage High School (7%), Frontier (9%), Burton Elementary (12%) and York Elementary (13%). Student services staff members Cale Piland and Jason Castro led the recognition.

On assessments, the district reported that it completed its first districtwide focused interim assessment block in English language arts in November. Of 13,121 eligible students, 10,334 completed the assessment; district staff said all but two teachers administered the assessment. Staff described the assessments as a tool to familiarize students with the Smarter Balanced platform and to provide teachers with interim data for instructional planning. The math interim assessment window is scheduled for March 3–7, the district said, and staff planned to return to the board in April with results and next steps.

Why it matters: district leaders said the instructional leadership plan, attendance work and interim assessments are linked efforts intended to improve equity and post‑diploma readiness by giving teachers data and leaders systemwide alignment.

Ending: the board received the update as informational; staff will bring assessment results and continued attendance monitoring to future meetings.