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Century Elementary highlights diversity, steady assessment gains and attendance work
Summary
Century Elementary School principals reviewed student demographics, assessment results, attendance and PBIS/SEL programming, and described interventions, family engagement and targeted supports used to raise achievement and attendance.
Century Elementary Principal David Saxberg told the Grand Forks Public Schools Board on May 12 that the school is serving 488 students and is a “minority‑majority” school with 25 home languages represented and families from at least 16 countries of origin.
The presentation outlined academic goals for the North Dakota State Assessment (NDSA) and interim measures, school strategies for Tier 1 instruction and interventions, and social‑emotional and attendance supports used to keep chronic absenteeism low.
Saxberg said Century has 23 general‑education classrooms, a district “multiple needs” classroom for students with high medical needs, and a multilingual classroom. “As of this morning, we have 488 students,” he said. He reported that roughly 58 percent of students qualify as low income, about 17 percent are multilingual learners (84 students), 11 percent are designated as immigrant or refugee, and 3 percent are McKinney‑Vento eligible.
Nut graf: The Century team told the board that steady use of screening and progress monitoring, Title I‑funded literacy and math interventionists, coaching, MTSS data digs and schoolwide PBIS and SEL programming are the primary levers they use to push state assessment outcomes and daily attendance toward district goals.
On academic performance, Saxberg said ELA proficiency on NDSA was 38 percent in the 2021‑22 baseline, 37 percent in 2023‑24, and the school has set a goal to raise ELA and math proficiency (ELA to 46 percent and math to 51 percent by February as measured by NDSA+). He described classroom scheduling that aligns grade‑level classes to allow interventionists to pull students during common intervention windows and noted the school piloted the Wit & Wisdom curriculum in eight classrooms this year.
Chelsea Behnke, Century’s associate principal and PBIS/SEL lead, described schoolwide behavioral expectations — “Be respectful, be responsible, be safe” — monthly PBIS meetings, assemblies, classroom lessons by counselors, partnerships with CVIC and Safe Kids, mentoring minutes and targeted small groups. Behnke said 93 percent of Century students are meeting expected behavior indicators; about 7 percent require additional supports and receive MTSS Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions.
The presentation included attendance details. Saxberg said Century’s year‑to‑date average was about 94.4 percent with a 30‑day average of 94.7 percent and that 274 students (56 percent) had attended 95 percent or more of school days. He said 13 students (about 3 percent) had attended less than 80 percent of days and were receiving individualized support from social work and district attendance staff.
Board members asked for clarifications about PBIS and SEL acronyms and about trends in cohort assessment data. Saxberg and Behnke said the school uses Star assessments and curriculum‑based measures (CBMs) for monitoring and that coaching, schedule fidelity and targeted interventionists are the main responses to downward trends in specific cohorts.
Ending: Board members thanked the Century team and acknowledged outgoing principal Saxberg, who reflected on his time at the school. The board did not take action on the presentation; it was informational.
