Washington Unified board reviews 2023–24 CAASPP results, outlines MTSS and curriculum steps

At a regular Washington Unified School District board meeting, district leaders presented the results of the 2023–24 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), reporting that 42% of students met or exceeded standards in English language arts and 27% did so in math.

Assistant Superintendent Autry Streak framed the results as one measure of student progress and emphasized the district’s next steps: “This is one measure of our student academic progress from last year,” she said, adding that the district would pair the assessment data with targeted professional learning communities and tiered supports.

Director Brittany Billingsley walked trustees through year-over-year changes and subgroup outcomes. The district recorded small, positive changes overall — a one-percentage-point increase in ELA and a two-point increase in math — which staff tied to an increase in the number of test takers in different content areas (Autry said the ELA and math participation pools differ). The presentation noted the raw-count increases behind those percentages: 123 more students met or exceeded standards in ELA and 109 more students did so in math, and staff said those counts translate to different percentage impacts because the number of test takers differs by subject.

Trustees and staff focused much of their discussion on disaggregated results. Billingsley flagged improvements among foster youth and certain school teams (for example, Riverbank’s 8th grade ELA cohort and several elementary teams showed sizable gains), while several small groups — including Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students in some measures and an 8th-grade cohort in science — showed declines that require follow-up. Board members pressed for additional context, including statewide baselines and participation-rate breakdowns; district staff committed to returning with more detailed, standards-level and participation data.

District leaders outlined specific responsive actions already underway or planned: implementing the revised MTSS policy districtwide, strengthening common formative math assessments, sustaining Wednesday PLC time for teacher data analysis, continuing publisher training for a newly adopted math curriculum, and staging an ELA adoption and aligned professional learning. Autry also said the district had been invited to join a California Department of Education “Moving the Needle” cohort to learn practices other districts use to raise literacy and math outcomes.

Board members asked practical questions about how new and novice teachers are supported to interpret data. Billingsley described mentor pairings, coach cycles and targeted new-teacher cohorts intended to help early-career educators use data to plan instruction.

Votes at a glance

- Consent agenda: approved by roll-call vote (Trustees Venegas, Wong, Clerk Kirby Gonzales, Vice President Pezzatti and the chair voted Aye). - Closed-session student-discipline recommendation (Case 2024-01): motion adopted by roll-call vote (Venegas, Wong, Clerk Kirby Gonzales, Vice President Pezzatti and the chair voted Aye). - Facility contract with Pacific Power & Systems Inc. for additional electrical work at Westfield Village Elementary: approved by roll-call vote; contract amount $48,595.35.

What happens next

Staff said they will dig into participation rates, provide standards-level analyses and return with follow-up reports tied to the district’s strategic plan and MTSS implementation timeline. The California Dashboard will be released in December and will include CAASPP as one of multiple metrics staff intend to bring back to the board.