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Jacksonville North Pulaski principals outline targeted plans after ATLAS letter grades
Summary
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Walker and principals reviewed Arkansas ATLAS letter grades, described tools and interventions used across schools, and laid out actions to raise student achievement and move more students into proficiency levels.
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Walker told the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District board that the state’s new Arkansas Teaching, Learning, and Assessment System (ATLAS) produces letter grades by combining achievement, growth and other indicators, and that the district must test at least 95% of students to provide a full picture of performance.
Dr. Walker said the district received an email Friday that recalculated Jacksonville High School’s grade from an F to a D; the district was still waiting for the official point total. “We received an email on Friday that said that they recalculated the high school grade. So it is no longer an f. it is a d,” Dr. Walker told the board.
Why it matters: principals said ATLAS places extra weight on the lowest-performing 25% of students, a group that can influence a school’s letter grade twice under the state formula. The district’s presentations focused on using benchmark tools, targeted interventions and classroom-level systems to accelerate growth and move more students to level 3 (proficient) and level 4 (advanced).
Principals summarized school-level results and next steps. Dr. Young reported a district-calculated score of 415.34 and described a 15.5% improvement from the prior period. “Our next goal is only 5.8% away. So I feel like that's very doable, very reachable,” Dr. Young said, and outlined daily/weekly walkthroughs, peer observations (“teachers visiting teachers”) and focused work on Tier 1 instruction and small-group Tier 2 interventions to close remaining gaps.
Other principals reported similar, data-driven plans. One elementary principal said the school had moved roughly 10% of Tier 3 literacy students into grade-level material by using intensive intervention blocks, Lexia for reading and Reveal/Mathia for math, and described weekly teacher meetings and coaching cycles to sustain improvement. A principal who oversees middle- and high-school programs described restructuring “Win Time” and blending AVID strategies, note-taking and study-skill instruction to prepare students for the ATLAS assessments.
Board discussion and questions focused on parental engagement and how families are being informed. Principals said the district is scheduling parent conferences, distributing ATLAS portal access information and exploring after-school tutoring (a BookNook pilot funded by an internal grant), Chromebook take-home options for practice time, and QR-code handouts and media-center support to help parents access online progress reports.
The board did not take formal action during the presentation; members thanked principals and emphasized ongoing monitoring. Presenters said they would return with progress updates as interim assessment data becomes available.
