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Eureka Union shows gains on state dashboard; English-learner progress improves while suspension rate remains above state
Summary
District presentation of the California School Dashboard showed improved English-learner progress and reduced chronic absenteeism, but suspension rates rose above the state average and some school-level ELA scores declined.
Dr. Gina Myers presented the Eureka Union School District's results from the 2024 California School Dashboard at the Jan. 8 board meeting, reporting gains in English-learner progress and overall decreases in chronic absenteeism while noting an increase in suspensions.
The presentation highlighted that the district’s ELA distance-from-met (DFS) score is 53.6 points above standards but declined by 6.5 points compared with the prior reporting period. The district’s math DFS was 42.9 points above standard. Science is newly reported and shows a positive DFS of about 4 points (no color rating because it is newly added to the Dashboard).
Myers emphasized subgroup performance: long-term English learners (LTELs), students with disabilities and socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) students appear in the orange or yellow bands for some indicators. She introduced two staff members credited with the EL gains — Veronica Anisenko and Tammy Cornelis — and said 59.2% of English learners made at least one level of progress on the English proficiency assessment (an increase of 5.9 percentage points). The proportion of ELs who retrogressed a proficiency level fell from about 26.2% to 9.1%.
On attendance, the district reported a decline in chronic absenteeism: 18.6% of students were chronically absent (about one in five), a decrease of 5.7 percentage points. Myers and board members praised site leadership for the attendance improvement.
On discipline, the district reported a suspension rate of 3.4% (students suspended at least one day), up roughly 2 percentage points and slightly above the state figure the presenter cited (3.2%). Board members said they are concerned the district suspension rate exceeds the statewide number and requested further review.
Board members asked several questions about school- and cohort-level variation. Myers said averages can be pulled down by outliers and cohort effects, and she pointed to intervention differences and timing (including school closures during COVID for some cohorts) as possible explanations. She noted Maidu and Excelsior showed notable growth in ELA and math in the prior year and credited targeted intervention and PLC (professional learning community) practices at those sites.
The presentation also distinguished measures: CAASPP content-area indicators use distance-from-met, while EL progress is measured by the summative ELPAC, which tracks yearly changes in language proficiency until reclassification criteria are met.
The board thanked staff for the report and acknowledged strengths and areas for further focus, including targeted interventions for subgroups and work to reduce suspensions.
The district's presentation materials and data tables were shown to trustees and are part of the meeting record.
Myers closed the item and the board moved on to subsequent agenda items.
