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IUSD revives student‑shadowing pilot and approves 2025–26 continuous improvement goals
Summary
Board approved the district's Continuous Improvement Council plan to reinstate student shadowing across sites to deepen belonging and equity work; staff cited pilot data and a timeline for site rollouts and teacher stipends funded by a grant that sunsets in March.
The Irvine Unified School District board approved districtwide continuous improvement efforts for 2025–26 that include a scaled student‑shadowing pilot intended to deepen students' sense of belonging and identify site‑level needs.
Assistant Superintendent Stan introduced the Continuous Improvement Council's work and said the council will seek board approval for the plan's implementation. "We believe that a sense of belonging is a precursor to social‑emotional health and to high academic achievement," Stan told the board, citing district survey results and international assessment trends used to justify the approach.
Director Lauren Brooks described the shadowing protocol for site leaders and teachers: participating teachers will pre‑confer with students, shadow a student during an agreed portion of the day, debrief, and submit anonymous teacher surveys. The district plans a window for shadowing between October and February and asked sites to complete shadowing by February so a grant that funds teacher time can cover stipends.
Trustees asked how the district will recruit a diverse and representative set of students for shadowing and whether the shadowing would include before‑ and after‑school obligations. Stan and Brooks said site leaders will use local data (Panorama and the annual survey) to target under‑served subgroups and will seek the broadest practical coverage of students' daytime experiences. One trustee emphasized that shadowing should attempt to capture end‑of‑day obligations such as family care or extracurriculars.
The board moved to approve the continuous improvement efforts for the 2025–26 school year and the motion passed on the record.
What happens next: site leaders will receive protocol materials in August/September, sites will run shadowing between October and February, and district staff will aggregate findings in April for board review.
