Manatee charter school presents plan to boost reading, math after slipping state grades

Manatee School of Arts and Sciences Principal Clinton Jones told the Manatee County School Board at its Sept. 16 workshop that the K–5 charter has a new school improvement plan to raise student achievement after the school’s state letter grade slipped close to the D/C cutoff.

Jones said the plan centers on boosting reading comprehension, writing proficiency and math fluency, expanding targeted small-group interventions for the lowest-performing students, strengthening parent engagement and adding social-emotional supports.

The school’s results have shown gains in some areas but persistent gaps in learning gains and among low-performing students, Jones said. "We've hit a crossroads where we can't just be a safe welcoming place. We have to push the envelope with getting these kids prepared and ready for middle and high school," Jones said. He noted the school missed a C rating by one point last year and by two points this year.

Jones summarized three broad priorities: academic skill-building, attendance and family support. In academics, he said the school is increasing classroom time dedicated to reading comprehension and writing and is protecting daily instructional minutes for ELA and math. He described targeted interventions led by a district-funded, reading-endorsed resource teacher who pulls small groups and supports tiered instruction. "We have that dedicated resource teacher...he goes in every single day, sees our bottom 25% in our bubble kids," Jones said.

Jones reported year-to-year gains in some measures: overall ELA achievement rose from roughly 30% in 2023 to 42% in the most recent results, and third-grade achievement improved from the high 20s to the mid-40s. He also said English-language learner outcomes improved to be on par with district and state figures in one metric (citing a rise from mid-40s to low-60s over three years). But he flagged that learning gains and the lowest 25th percentile metrics have not reliably met state thresholds, and some small-grade cohorts (fifth grade last year) lacked the minimum number of students for reporting.

The school plans to expand use of evidence-based digital programs (I-Ready, Imagine Learning) for diagnostics and remediation, add weekly visits from the Children's Literacy Initiative (CLI) to coach teachers and support parent events, and continue partnerships with Centerstone to provide weekly individual and group behavioral-health supports.

Jones said the school also is emphasizing test-taking stamina, academic vocabulary and keyboarding skills so students can demonstrate knowledge in online state assessments. He described PBIS (positive behavior interventions and supports) and ClassDojo token-economy rewards as part of efforts to increase engagement and attendance.

Enrollment stood at about 108 students on the day of the presentation; Jones said the school started the year near 115 and finished last year around 104–105. He acknowledged chronic absenteeism as a major barrier: about 27 students (roughly 10% of enrollment) met the district’s chronic-absence threshold last year and many of those students overlapped with the lowest-performing group.

Jones said the school will conduct weekly and biweekly data reviews (PLCs and individual teacher data meetings), monitor formative assessments, hold quarterly big-picture reviews and conduct periodic classroom observations. He asked the board for continuing engagement and said CLI schedule confirmations were imminent. "We’ve got the teachers. We’ve got the resources. We’ve got the curriculum. We’re laser focused on tackling those issues," Jones said.

Board members expressed support and offered local contacts for CLI. Superintendent-level staff and the board thanked Jones for the presentation and requested a follow-up report next year.

The presentation was informational; no board action or vote was recorded at the workshop.

A follow-up: school administrators said the CLI partnership is funded in part by the school and will include weekly in-school coaching and parent events; the specific dollar amount was described by a board member as being funded but not specified in the presentation.