Shawnee Heights ties professional development to AVID framework; schools report goals on attendance and assessment

Shawnee Heights Unified School District administrators told the board that the district’s professional development is being aligned with the AVID framework and the district's KISA accreditation goals, and they reported school-level targets for attendance and student assessment.

District leaders said the effort is intended to improve classroom instruction and identify students who need targeted interventions. Sherry Monholland, speaking for district leadership, described 150 planned non-evaluative classroom walk-throughs and an associated Google survey to collect implementation data; she said the district had completed 118 of those visits at the time of the meeting. Monholland said the professional development plan grew from work begun last year at an AVID strategic planning conference and now ties classroom instructional strategies, social-emotional learning and relational capacity to the AVID framework.

The AVID-aligned approach includes a roster review process, Monholland said, where teachers and administrators identify students who remained at risk after the first quarter so administrative and at-risk teams can re-engage them. "Teachers don't see that," she said of the survey data, which is used by the district leadership team to guide support.

Middle school principal Mr. Urick told the board the middle school has had an "excellent start" to the 2025-26 year and low staff turnover: the school replaced two outgoing positions with experienced mid-career hires. He described three measurable school goals tied to district accreditation: engagement (targeting 90% family attendance at fall parent-teacher conferences), growth (70% of students scoring at or above the 40th percentile in reading and math) and attendance (reducing chronic absenteeism to pre-pandemic levels, under 6%). Urick reported FastBridge baseline results from an August screener showing about 68% of students at or above the 40th percentile in math and 66% in reading; he said the school expects to reach the growth target in math and that reading requires additional work. Year-to-date chronic absenteeism was 8.5%, down from roughly 13'14% the prior year; Urick said the school will share quarterly attendance charts on customized report cards to better communicate student attendance with families.

At Tecumseh North, instructional leader Miss Bivens described three AVID-aligned goals for the 2025-26 year. By May 2026, she said, 70% of teachers should incorporate college and career awareness and the district's student organizational tool into routines; 65% of students in grades 2'6 should score in the low-risk or "T-Bird Ready" category (the 40th percentile) on the FastBridge aReading assessment; and 40% of kindergarten and first-grade students should meet the low-risk threshold on the FastBridge Early Reading assessment.

Superintendent Miss Meggers framed the updates in the context of the district's KISA accreditation check-ins and professional development work, and she highlighted two upcoming public events: the Shawnee Heights Foundation breakfast and two bond information town halls (one Oct. 14 at the middle school and one Oct. 27 at Shawnee Heights Elementary). Meggers said the Foundation returned roughly $16,000 to classrooms via recent grants and that the breakfast will feature three past grant recipients describing classroom impacts.

The board did not take action on the instructional items presented; the reports were informational updates to guide future board oversight and school-level implementation.