Centennial SD 28J board reviews midyear strategic-plan dashboard; leaders cite pockets of progress, persistent gaps

Centennial School District leaders on April 9 presented a second-trimester update on the district's five-year strategic plan dashboard, reporting modest improvements in some early-grade cohorts but overall proficiency and attendance measures that remain below the district's excellence targets.

The presentation by Assistant Superintendent Dr. Katsuda and consultant Lauren Klasky of Performance Fact showed that 38% of third graders met the English language arts standard on the district's February STAR reading assessment, compared with a 28% baseline from the 2022—23 spring OSAS (Oregon Statewide Assessments) and 40% on the November STAR. Third-grade math proficiency on the February STAR was 35%, and several upper-grade measures showed flat or declining results.

Board members and staff said the numbers matter because they show where instruction and supports must accelerate to meet the district's two-year excellence targets. "We're seeing bright spots where schools have aligned practice, but we're not yet accelerating growth for students who are not on grade level," Klasky said during the presentation.

District staff outlined what school teams are already doing in response. Site leadership teams completed root-cause analyses in March and developed action plans to be implemented in the remaining 12 weeks of the school year. Staff said some schools are using intensive, short-cycle progress monitoring and collaborative teacher teams to adjust instruction every two to three weeks; Patrick Lynch Elementary was cited as an example of a school showing "game-changing" gains tied to structured collaboration, co-teaching and targeted reading interventions.

Directors pressed for clearer alignment among curriculum, instruction and assessment. Director Jeff (board member) and others asked whether a mismatch between curriculum and assessment content could explain gaps. Dr. Katsuda and Klasky replied the district-adopted curricula align to grade-level standards, and the larger issue is consistent, high-quality classroom implementation and standards-based instructional practice.

The consultants also discussed student-perception and attendance measures tracked by the dashboard. On perception surveys, 86% of elementary students and 55% of secondary students reported positive responses overall; a specific item, "I feel like I belong at this school," showed 83.6% positive at the 2023 baseline, 90.2% in fall, and 88.5% in the most recent winter administration for elementary respondents. Regular attendance (students attending at least 90% of school days) was about 60% in the latest poll, down from 64% in November and up from a 54% baseline in 2022—23.

Board members probed how the district disaggregates survey and assessment data. Klasky said each school receives disaggregated packets by demographic group and cohort, and the district will produce an aggregated disaggregated report after the spring full survey administration. Staff noted correlations between social-emotional measures and achievement at many sites but cautioned that outliers exist (for example, some emerging multilingual students showed high attendance but variable proficiency).

Several directors stressed the role of relationships and student voice in improving outcomes. Principal Miller of Centennial High School described department-level action plans and a growing practice of involving student leadership teams to review survey results and recommend improvements. "We share the data with students, they analyze it, they give feedback, and we test interventions to see if responses change," Miller said.

Staff and consultants said progress will be monitored at the end-of-year data summit and through continued site-level implementation. The district plans to post the visualized dashboard on the district website following the meeting.

Votes at a glance The board approved routine meeting items at the April 9 session: approval of the agenda with flexibility; approval of minutes from the March 12 meeting; and acceptance of confirmation items. Each motion passed by voice/raise-hand vote; the transcript records the motions, seconds and that "the ayes have it," but individual vote tallies or the names of proposers and seconders were not specified in the record.

What happens next Staff said school-based teams will continue implementing action plans, with a spring data summit scheduled for May 29 to review the full spring assessment and survey results. Consultants and district leaders said they will return with updated, disaggregated results and recommended adjustments to practice for the board to review.