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Gifford K-8 tells school board attendance is strong and literacy efforts show gains
Summary
Gifford K-8 principals told the Racine Unified School District board that the school's attendance is above 93% and that early-literacy metrics show strong results despite data-reporting glitches; staff described new STEAM lessons, Junior Achievement partnerships and strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism.
Gifford K-8 administrators reported to the Racine Unified School District Board of Education on Dec. 15 that the school's attendance and early-literacy work are producing promising signs even as staff correct data discrepancies.
Erica Harris Day, directing principal at Gifford, said the school ended last year with 93.7% attendance and is currently at 94.7%. "Our students enjoy school. Our staff are making connections with students and value those relationships," Day said. She also noted the school scored 64.3 on its most recent report card and that "we exceeded the state growth by 1.9" in English-language arts.
Amanda Newman, academy principal for 4K through second grade, told the board that some published scores were affected by reporting issues. "We had some reporting issues with Panorama pulling our data," Newman said, and she said corrected internal figures show higher proficiency rates than some slides suggested.
School leaders described concrete early-literacy results: 4K students mastered letter names at about 98%, kindergarten letter-sound mastery reached 88% and first grade letter-sound proficiency was 96%. Principals also outlined a district-aligned focus on early literacy, a district writing pilot, new STEAM lessons in library, Junior Achievement partnerships and classroom strategies to increase intentional student discourse.
On chronic absenteeism, the Gifford team said they intend to reduce the roughly 170 students who miss 10% or more of school days by using "Clifford Connectors," staff mentors paired with chronically absent students, and by celebrating improved attendance. Ben Godfordsen, the middle-school academy principal, described a positive climate in which students use gradebook feedback to improve performance.
Board members asked how staff are encouraging students to speak in class despite fear of being wrong. Day said building trust and providing repeated, scaffolded practice were central to their approach; Kate Schnetzky, the third-through-fifth grade principal, added that anchor charts and sentence starters help students begin conversations.
The board praised the presentation and thanked staff and families for their work. There was no board action connected to the presentation.
