BHUSD presents midyear strategic-plan updates as principals report I‑Ready gains and ongoing reading gaps

Beverly Hills Unified School District officials presented a midyear strategic‑plan update at the Feb. 25 Board of Education meeting, and principals from the district’s four main campuses summarized progress on the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) and school‑level goals.

The update, led by Superintendent Michael Hasty and Assistant Superintendent Dustin Seaman, emphasized gains on interim diagnostics and described targeted next steps for math, reading and behavior supports across elementary, middle and high school sites.

Principal Ellery of Horace Mann Elementary told the board the school’s second I‑Ready diagnostic showed marked growth: “Diagnostic 1, 46 percent of our students were at or above grade level. When we gave them the second assessment in December, that number increased to 66 percent,” she said, adding that math rose from 37 percent to 57 percent. Ellery said Horace Mann had restructured PLCs, aligned interventions with essential standards and limited time on adaptive lessons to an average of about 1 hour 18 minutes a week per student.

Principal Caber at El Rodeo Elementary reported similar progress, telling the board that schoolwide I‑Ready pass rates were high and that DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) checks and targeted fact‑fluency work had produced gains. She said the school had 91 percent of math lessons passed and 85 percent of reading lessons passed across the year so far, and that teachers were using common assessments and small‑group interventions to accelerate students near grade level.

Beverly Vista Middle School Principal Waters said his site’s NWEA growth‑and‑achievement quadrant showed high achievement and high growth overall, with a notable 8‑percent gain in math. Waters described expanded counseling lessons on resilience, a 566‑student conduct record free of negative marks for the quarter, and “Bulldog Days” and other culture initiatives aimed at preventing behavior problems.

At Beverly Hills High School, Principal Russell summarized performance and college‑readiness work, including AP successes, a new AP Research capstone to be offered next year and a career/job fair run with the counseling and CTE teams. He noted that schoolwide NWEA achievement remained strong but flagged lower growth metrics in reading. “Reading is an issue, and it’s a national trend,” he told the board; he said academic coaches had compiled discipline‑by‑discipline literacy toolkits for classroom teachers and that a districtwide CAST preparedness campaign would begin in the coming weeks.

District leaders and principals repeatedly framed the work through the strategic plan’s three pillars — engaging students in learning, supporting positive student behavior, and growing professionally — and emphasized teacher PLCs (professional learning communities) and RTI (response to intervention) as the mechanisms to sustain gains and address gaps.

Assistant Superintendent Seaman told the board the district would return with more detailed 30/60/90 day action steps for instruction and interventions. Board members asked for grade‑level breakdowns of I‑Ready time‑on‑task and for a follow‑up showing how interim gains translate into CAASPP results later in the year.

Why it matters: District officials described measurable midyear gains but acknowledged persistent work is needed on reading and on translating diagnostic progress to state summative outcomes. The presentations set the district’s immediate instructional priorities and signaled additional supports and accountability checks for the rest of the school year.