District staff presented a summary of the spring 2024–25 state assessment results and local diagnostic data to the board on Nov. 4, highlighting areas of growth as well as persistent achievement gaps between student groups.

Cassandra ("Cassie") Lane, the district’s data and assessment coordinator, emphasized that the district is using “distance from standard” — the numeric gap between a student’s score and the state proficiency threshold — to give a more nuanced view than a simple pass/fail proficiency rate. Cassie told trustees that 11th‑grade ELA scores on average were above the state standard, while middle‑school and high‑school cohorts showed growth in ELA and math over the past two years. Elementary gains were mixed, she said, with some student groups improving while others remained below standard.

Cassie Lane explained the ELPAC (English‑language proficiency) picture by grade band: newcomer students, long‑term ELs and reclassified students make up different shares of the English‑learner population at elementary, middle and high school levels; those population shifts influence proficiency trends and program needs. “We know that it takes five to seven years to become proficient in a language,” she said, and reclassification rates and long‑term EL concentrations affect how results look by grade band.

District staff reported attendance year‑to‑date above historical levels: the TK–8 district was approximately 96.8% and the high‑school district about 96% at the time of the report. Staff said the district will track progress through local diagnostics (i‑Ready) and the Academic Roadmap (mileposts at K, grade 3, grade 6, and high‑school checkpoints) and will return with the full California School Dashboard when it is released in mid‑November.

Trustees asked clarifying questions about cohort comparability, test timing, and how curriculum changes and foundational‑skills work (including a new elementary math adoption) are expected to affect future assessment results. Staff noted that assessment results are affected by the composition of grade‑level cohorts, by COVID‑era enrollment and instructional disruptions and by differences in state test difficulty across content areas.