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Board hears beginning-of-year reading data; district rolls out instructional planning calendars and partner coaching
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Summary
Dr. Little presented La Joya ISD’s beginning-of-year MAP reading data and told the board that kindergarten through grade 2 reading fluency and first- and second-grade measures are currently off track, while middle-school reading measures are on track.
Dr. Little presented La Jolla ISD’s beginning-of-year MAP reading data and told the board that kindergarten through grade 2 reading fluency and first- and second-grade measures are currently off track compared with the district’s targets, while sixth through eighth grade reading measures are within range of the targets.
Dr. Little explained that MAP recently completed a renorming process that shifted national percentiles downward and flattened the distribution; the change affects year-to-year comparisons and the district’s interpretation of where students sit relative to national norms. She said MAP also holds students at grade-level bands longer so that teachers can better see whether students are on grade level and target instruction.
To accelerate instructional improvement, the district introduced instructional planning calendars (IPCs) that annotate curriculum lessons with explicit objectives, time estimates, demonstration-of-learning checks and teacher-facing supports. Dr. Little said IPCs are intended to reduce teacher planning burden and to increase consistency of grade-level instruction. The district also will conduct five executive "spot checks" across campuses this year to observe instructional trends and will provide demonstration-of-learning (DOL) items to teachers for each lesson so mastery can be tracked and addressed.
Dr. Little and Superintendent Dr. Sorensen described partner coaching and professional-learning supports that will be managed and monitored by district leaders. They said partners will provide written feedback and reports, district staff will be on biweekly calls with partners, and the district will vet partner agendas and materials. The presentation included an explanation that the board would consider contracts for core curriculum and professional learning later on the agenda.
Board members pressed on implementation monitoring: how partner effectiveness will be verified, how spot checks feed principal evaluations, and how targets for special education and emergent bilingual students will be set. Dr. Little said the district is correcting a prior omission by adding specific targets for those student groups on the GPMs and will return those targets for board approval later in the meeting.
Dr. Little said the ultimate aims are stronger tier-1 (on-grade-level) instruction, improved internalization of lessons by teachers, more consistent principal coaching and stronger use of tier-2 interventions. The district plans to track unit assessments and quick-turnaround data to inform supports to campuses during the year.
