Creighton board adopts progress reports on math outcomes, backs instruction-focused guardrail

The Creighton Elementary District Governing Board on March 11 adopted progress monitoring reports for two student-outcome goals focused on middle-school math and approved a new superintendent guardrail that tracks whether teachers communicate learning targets and success criteria to students.

District staff told the board the eighth-grade math goal (Goal 1) is showing early improvement on interim measures and remains on track for the year’s interim target, while the separate equity goal focused on Black eighth-grade students (Goal 2) is not on track and needs additional, targeted supports. The board approved both progress reports and the guardrail after staff outlined inputs and coaching strategies intended to accelerate change in instruction.

Why it matters: The progress reports are part of the district’s Student Outcomes Focused Governance (SOFG) work, which ties board goals to concrete measures of adult practice and student performance. Staff said Guardrail 4 provides a leading indicator of whether classroom practice is shifting in ways that should produce later gains in state assessments.

District presentation and targets Dr. Dupin, a member of the district executive team, summarized Goal 1, saying “the goal is that the percent of eighth graders that score minimally proficient on AASA math will decrease from 73 percent in August 2023 to 48 percent by August 2028.” For the 2024–25 year, staff set an annual target to move eighth-grade minimal proficiency from 77 percent to 71 percent.

On the December interim benchmark staff reported progress: the district’s eighth-grade minimal-proficiency rate on the benchmark was lower than in the prior two years and staff said interim data show the district is on track to meet the current year interim measure for Goal 1. By contrast, fifth-grade minimal-proficiency rates remain high; staff reported a 97 percent minimal-proficiency rate on the December interim for fifth grade and described the group as requiring focused attention because of foundation skill gaps.

Goal 2, targeting increases in proficiency for Black eighth-grade students, showed a different pattern. Dr. Dupin said the district has a repeated pattern of near-zero proficiency on the interim measures for that subgroup and that staff are “not on track to reach current measure 2.1 by the end of this year.” The presentation listed inputs to address the gap, including researching equity-based mathematics instruction and expanding use of Waggle (an online practice system embedded in the adopted HMH Into Math curriculum) so teachers can assign scaffolded, grade-appropriate practice.

Instructional inputs and coaching Marie Twist, the district math coordinator, and math coaches described the math-cadre professional learning structure, collegial coaching cycles and learning walks. Twist told the board the math cadre provides “8 or 9 learning sessions over the course of the entire year” and that participating teachers observe peers, implement strategies and give feedback.

Superintendent Mann said the district increased the scope of learning walks this year. “We put learning walks on steroids this year,” he said, and staff reported they had already observed more classrooms by quarter two than they did across all of last year.

Guardrail 4: measuring adult practice as an early sign of change The superintendent and the teaching-and-learning team framed Guardrail 4 as a leading indicator. Staff reported that the percent of observed lessons meeting a score of 3 or greater on the learning-walk rubric for learning targets rose from 21 percent at the end of quarter 1 to 38 percent in December, exceeding the interim measure for that indicator. Success-criteria scores also rose, and both interim measures were described as currently on track.

Board discussion and adoption Board members pressed staff on the gap in fifth grade and on how the coaching inputs will address student fluency and language needs. Board member Marquez noted that 15 of the district’s 45 Black eighth graders are multilingual learners, a complexity staff said they are factoring into the research and planned interventions.

The governing board adopted the following actions during the meeting: - Motion: Adopt progress monitoring report for Goal 1 (Progress Monitoring Report 3). Mover: President Prio. Second: (recorded). Vote: President Prio — yes; Miss Ayers — yes; Mr. Jones — yes; Miss Marquez — yes; Miss Katie Gibson McLean — absent. Outcome: approved. - Motion: Adopt progress monitoring report for Goal 2 (Progress Monitoring Report 3). Mover: President Prio. Second: (recorded). Vote: President Prio — yes; Miss Ayers — yes; Mr. Jones — yes; Miss Marquez — yes; Miss Katie Gibson McLean — absent. Outcome: approved. - Motion: Approve Guardrail 4 progress monitoring report (Report 1). Mover: President Prio. Second: (recorded). Vote: President Prio — yes; Miss Ayers — yes; Mr. Jones — yes; Miss Marquez — yes; Miss Katie Gibson McLean — absent. Outcome: approved.

What board members said Board members acknowledged early signs of improved adult practice but emphasized the gap between improved instructional practice and needed student outcomes. As President Prio noted during the discussion, these monitoring structures are intended to identify leading indicators of change so the district can sustain practices long enough for student gains to appear in assessment results.

Next steps Staff said they will continue targeted coaching for the district’s 21 fifth- and eighth-grade math teachers, expand content-specific coaching, complete classroom observation cycles, and continue researching equity-based math teaching practices and consultant supports to accelerate gains for the targeted subgroup.