District officials cite staffing disruptions and curriculum gaps after weak math benchmarks at Wilkins, Peoples

Jackson Public School District staff told the board the Office of School Support and Office of Teaching and Learning are deploying targeted interventions after benchmark data showed low math proficiency at two district schools.

Wilkins Elementary: staffing disruptions cited

Doctor Leesch (Office of School Support) told trustees that only about 5 percent of Wilkins Elementary third-graders were proficient in math at the most recent benchmark. The report attributed that low result in part to the death of a third-grade teacher and an extended FMLA leave for a fourth-grade math teacher, which disrupted consistent instruction during a critical learning period. School leadership and central-office coaches have scheduled targeted intervention time, deployed instructional coaches and used Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL) resources for small-group remediation.

Peoples Middle School: breadth of issues in implementation

Doctor Buchanan described Peoples’ benchmark results and said that across sixth through eighth grades a large share of students remained at proficiency level 1. He said teachers used the Ready Math curriculum but identified root causes that include incomplete lesson-session completion, insufficient plans for reteaching standards with less than 50 percent mastery, and inadequate tier‑2 supports targeted at proficiency-level‑1 students. Network coaches and OTL staff provided co-teaching, templates for 30-minute mini-lessons on low-performing standards, and guidance to principals on differentiated planning.

Longer-term responses and replication of promising practices

Administrators pointed to Powell Middle School as a model where schedule changes and broad placement in a learning strategies course have produced more consistent gains; Powell places all students in a learning strategies course tied to deficits and rotates students in/out to deliver targeted instruction. District leaders said they are exploring master-schedule changes and targeted staffing shifts at Peoples to replicate Powell’s practices and accelerate growth.

Board members asked how long-term staffing and systemic curriculum fidelity will be monitored; administrators said the district will continue benchmark monitoring, deploy coaches and revisit staffing and master schedules where needed. Officials also reiterated that some recent declines were related to unusual personnel disruptions rather than persistent programmatic failures.

Provenance: topicintro excerpt: "Doctor Leesch? Good evening, my JPS family. The Jackson Public School District Office of School Support recommends for the board's review the school improvement data for our CSI and TSI schools for the month of April." (transcript block beginning at 2533.32). topicfinish excerpt: "Are there other questions? Thank you all very much. Thank you. Great evening, missus. Partners in education." (transcript block ending near 3439.78).