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District officials report growth but flag chronic absenteeism and community-driven discipline issues at middle schools
Summary
Jackson Public School District staff told the board that benchmark assessments show student growth in school-improvement schools but that ELA proficiency lags. Officials flagged chronic absenteeism—partly driven by suspensions and community conflicts—and outlined interventions including streamlined feedback, daily tracking and community partners.
District staff presented a school improvement update showing early signs of academic growth in several middle schools, while also warning of persistent challenges with reading proficiency and chronic absenteeism.
Doctor Buchanan, the district’s middle school assistant superintendent, told the board that benchmark 1 (early fall) results mirror patterns from the 2023–24 MAP assessments: math proficiency was higher than ELA, but “all 5 schools in school improvement grew their students by at least 50%,” he said, describing movement of students from lower performance levels upward.
Buchanan and other staff said the district has worked to focus coaching and feedback so teachers get “high-leverage” instructional suggestions tied to standards, and described a daily tracking system and a designated intervention period called “win time” to address trends identified in assessments.
The update also noted attendance concerns. Buchanan said about 30% of reported chronic absences in several school-improvement middle schools result from suspensions or discipline coding, and that tardies and mid-day dismissals can register as absences when students do not meet a 65%-day threshold. He said some students identified as absent are actually enrolled elsewhere but records lag. The district is using deans, PBIS systems and partner organizations to address causes.
Buchanan said that when school discipline entries include richer descriptions of incidents, the district has found a significant share of conflicts are community-based and brought into schools — not solely school-originated incidents. He said the district has begun meeting with Boys & Girls Club to design wraparound supports.
Board members asked for additional information on how the district is measuring teacher compliance with a proposed grading policy and whether grading minimums would create a uniform floor across grade levels. District leaders said verification processes at midterm and end-of-term require principals to review grade-entry frequency and sign grade-verification reports; the proposed grading policy sets minimum numbers of assignments as a floor, not a ceiling.
Board President Doctor Seback and other trustees thanked staff for the update and said follow-up actions will focus on discipline coding accuracy, partnerships addressing community factors and continued monitoring of benchmarks to ensure growth translates into proficiency.
No formal board action was taken on the school improvement report; follow-up conversations and implementation work were described as likely next steps.
