District reviews SBA trends and tighter school-improvement plans using PDSA cycles

Evergreen—s Teaching, Learning & Equity team on Oct. 28 walked the board through how state assessment data and short continuous-improvement cycles are being used to shape school improvement plans.

Heather Fowler, executive director of programs and school performance, said district math results show an overall upward trend on the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA), while English language arts proficiency has been more variable with limited overall gains across three years. Fowler said principals combine SBA results with local formative and interim assessments, attendance and discipline data to set targets and choose interventions.

"This year these three priorities guide our school improvement work: flexibility, alignment and collaboration," Fowler said, explaining the increased use of root-cause analysis and Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to make quicker, data-informed adjustments during the school year rather than waiting for end-of-year reviews.

Board members asked whether other assessment data — for example, science results — could be included on the district dashboard. Dr. Fox and Fowler confirmed additional data sources will be brought forward across the year and that a focused interim assessment block and a multilingual learners report will be presented at the Nov. 18 meeting.

Directors also discussed literacy instruction; several members noted interest in phonics-based approaches and in classroom-level observations of reading instruction. Fowler said the district—s adopted curriculum includes phonics components and that staff will consider bringing a deeper review of reading curriculum and instruction to a future meeting.

Sources: remarks by Heather Fowler and Dr. Fox during the Oct. 28 board meeting.