Shakopee board reviews achievement plan showing persistent gaps for Hispanic and Black students
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Summary
District administrators presented the Comprehensive Achievement & Civic Readiness plan and Achievement & Integration progress, reporting shortfalls against several subgroup goals and outlining interventions such as AVID, Grow Your Own teacher recruitment and family engagement nights.
Shakopee Public School District administrators presented the district’s Comprehensive Achievement & Civic Readiness (CACR) results and Achievement & Integration (A&I) plan at the Nov. 17 board meeting, highlighting progress and persistent gaps among student subgroups.
Sarah Wearwood summarized key CACR indicators for the 2024–25 reporting window. The district’s kindergarten readiness metric — the share of incoming kindergarten students assessed at low risk on the fall reading assessment — was 55.2%, short of the 60% goal. For subgroup proficiency, administrators noted Hispanic students’ reading proficiency on state MCAs rose from 30.1% (baseline) to 31% (current) against a 2025 target of 40.1%; Black students’ proficiency figures also trailed stated targets.
A&I coordinator Ray Betton outlined five priority goals: increase representation of Black and Hispanic students in concurrent/AP courses to reflect their enrollment; sustain graduation rates at or above state goals (the district reported 90.45% of high school students on track to graduate); expand family engagement nights (175+ families attended last year); and continue the Grow Your Own teacher recruitment pipeline. Betton said interventions include AVID programming, teacher talent scouting, affinity groups, targeted family engagement and the Caring Committee conversations series.
Board members pressed staff on data interpretation, asking about opt-outs from the MCAs and ACT participation rates and whether those choices skew subgroup results. Wearwood said the district is “digging into trying to figure out exactly what is the opt-out” and will provide raw participation data by demographic on request.
Administrators framed the results as mixed: some district goals are met or exceeded while other subgroup outcomes require additional focus. Betton asked the board to participate in a forthcoming three-year planning cycle for the A&I program and to support continued family and community engagement work.