Riverside Unified Superintendent of Instruction Dr. Emily Sosa told the school board on Wednesday that the district saw measurable gains across multiple California School Dashboard indicators and described a multi-year instructional plan to make those improvements sustainable. "We have just over 37,000 students," Sosa said, framing the scale of the district's work and explaining how the state's dashboard measures both status and growth.

The report showed the district's English language arts distance-from-standard (DFS) increased by 6.4 points and the district moved from orange to yellow on that indicator. Mathematics improved by 4.5 DFS points and also moved from orange to yellow. The new science indicator posted a baseline of 51.7 science points with positive growth across student groups. Graduation rose to 95.6 percent, moving the district from green to blue for that indicator, and the college-and-career measure climbed to 52.6 percent prepared.

Sosa emphasized that the state dashboard is one of several accountability tools and that the district's response centers on strengthening Tier 1 instruction in classrooms, expanding instructional coaching and improving professional learning. Key actions include increasing instructional coaching (elementary math coaches and English learner coaches assigned to schools), implementing an intentional instructional design approach focused on essential standards, and broadening formative assessment and writing supports across content areas. "We will be providing designated ELD for all English learners beginning next year," Sosa said, describing a plan to require designated English language development classes for students in grades 7 through 12.

District leaders gave examples from school sites where these strategies are already in use. Magnolia Elementary Principal Michelle Gore described vertical alignment of writing standards and use of on-demand writing and teacher collaboration to reduce low writing scores. Casablanca Elementary Principal Bernie Torres and Frank Augustus Miller Middle Principal Lindsey Rosa highlighted hands-on science programs (FOSS kits) and weekly labs that they credited with gains on the science test.

Board members pushed for ongoing monitoring and more disaggregated reporting. Trustee Vickers asked how coaching support moves from coaching to sustained mastery; Sosa said the coaching model is a heavy short-term investment intended to change adult practice and then be scaled back once local capacity grows. Trustees also asked for implementation metrics tied to the district's research partnership on the Eureka Squared math rollout and for data showing how expanded learning or summer programs affect student outcomes.

Sosa said the district is building monitoring systems to track implementation fidelity and student-level outcomes and will report back to the board as interim data become available. The presentation and school examples were followed by public comment urging more school-level breakdowns of the dashboard and requests for pre-COVID comparisons.

The board did not take formal action on the instructional plan at the meeting; Sosa and school leaders were thanked for the report and committed to follow-up updates and continued evaluation of the initiatives.