Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the K 12 Performance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Buckeye School of the Arts reports test-score gains, outlines student-experience plan
Summary
At a Gateway Unified board meeting, Buckeye School of the Arts staff presented assessment gains, described targeted interventions and listed student-experience activities including more field trips and a fall festival.
Rob, a Buckeye staff member, presented results showing gains on several state and district assessments and described planned student-experience activities.
Rob told the Gateway Unified School District board that the school saw measurable growth in writing proficiency and early-reading measures. "One of the things I'm really excited about is you may notice the orange. We really don't want students in the orange. That orange has shrunk significantly," Rob said. He said that in 2023–24 nearly 63% of students produced insufficient written responses for the right written scores and that this year the share with such issues fell to 23%.
Rob said cohort growth from third to fourth grade showed double-digit gains in several groups and that kindergarten-to-first-grade reading results reflected progress after interventions. He noted math scores were "a little bit flatlined" and that the district-level math professional development will focus on interim assessments and practice tests to build student capacity for state tests.
Rob described programming to strengthen student engagement: more than 20 field trips already planned (including a farm visit and a visit to a college and the city transfer station), a Buckeye Fall Festival on Oct. 23, expanded arts instruction (all TK–5 students receive weekly art; grades 6–8 through an elective), and extracurricular athletics. He said those activities are intended to keep students connected to school and support academic work.
Board members and administrators praised staff and support personnel. Board members recognized Holly Mitchell by name as a behavior-support paraprofessional, noting her "kindest heart" and that students "feel safe" with her. The board highlighted other staff roles, interim assessment blocks used as formative assessments, and parent engagement through ParentSquare and a growing parent club.
The presentation included specific student-assessment figures, descriptions of instructional strategies and plans for continued focus on math and writing proficiency. No formal board action was taken on the presentation.
The board meeting also included brief updates from other sites and routine items after the Buckeye presentation.
