Jefferson Union reports gains on state dashboard; math and English‑learner progress flagged for attention

Deputy Superintendent Corinne Baca told the Jefferson Union High School District Board of Trustees that the district’s 2024 California School Dashboard shows improvement in several academic and climate indicators, though math performance and English-learner progress remain concerns.

The dashboard is the state’s accountability tool for measuring district and school performance. "The California School Dashboard or dashboard for short is an online tool that shows districts how districts are performing, in multiple measures," Baca said as she opened the presentation.

Baca said the district earned a green performance for English language arts on the 2024 dashboard and a green on the suspension indicator. The district’s graduation rate was 90.4% in 2024, which Baca described as a yellow performance that was effectively unchanged from 2023: "So in 2024, we received a yellow performance, with a rate of 90.4%. We maintain this level from the previous year." She noted the rate was about 0.1 percentage point short of a higher status under the state’s 5-by-5 placement rules.

College-and-career readiness improved: 52.3% of the class of 2024 met at least one of the state’s pathways to be deemed prepared (A–G completion, college credits, qualifying assessment scores, CTE pathways and other options). Baca said the largest share of students met the indicator by satisfying UC/CSU A–G requirements.

Math remains the district’s largest academic gap. The district’s math indicator registered as orange, with average student performance reported as roughly 78 points below the state standard; status and year-to-year change placed the district in the orange band. Baca and board members flagged math as an area needing targeted attention.

Baca also reported a decline in English-learner progress: the ELPAC results gave an orange performance with 40.6% of English learners making progress, a drop of 7.2 percentage points from the previous year. She said the district met the 95% ELPAC participation target.

Board members asked for more detailed breakdowns and the underlying student counts for small subgroups. Trustee Andy asked how the dashboard counts were assembled for the college-and-career indicator; Baca explained the district pulls multiple sources (state test vendors, College Board, and district records) and stressed the importance of accurate tagging in the student information system. Trustee Jerome asked whether Terra Nova’s math improvements could be replicated districtwide; Baca said she would consult with site math teachers and district instructional staff.

The presentation tied dashboard findings to the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), ongoing universal-design and equity work, and planned interventions for math and English‑learner supports. Baca noted efforts such as practice platforms for ELPAC listening items and schedule changes at some sites (A–G course access) that appear to have supported graduation and A–G completion gains.

Board members thanked staff for the analysis and requested follow-up data in the weekly recap and opportunities to review deeper subgroup numbers and site-level strategies.