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Franklin Middle outlines PLC-based push on literacy, numeracy and co-teaching
Summary
Franklin Middle School leaders told the Yakima School Board Dec. 1 that a focus on professional learning communities, STAR benchmarking and individualized MyPath instruction has supported early gains for students with disabilities and multilingual learners while expanding co-teaching models.
Franklin Middle School Principal Espindola told the Yakima School Board Dec. 1 that a schoolwide push on professional learning communities (PLCs), paired with STAR benchmark assessments and the MyPath individualized instruction program, is helping students make measurable gains.
Espindola said the school’s work is grounded in three improvement goals — academics (focused on literacy and numeracy), students with disabilities and attendance — and stressed that "we believe that as educators, we are continuous learners." He described using STAR benchmarks three times per year to guide instruction and MyPath programs in homeroom and courses to tailor reading and math practice.
The principal highlighted changes to district-directed professional time that increased grade-level collaboration: "That first district directed Monday of the month is spent with their grade level partner, and then that second district directed Monday of the month is spent with their entire vertical team," he said, describing how teams now build common assessments and proficiency scales.
On inclusion, Espindola said Franklin has expanded co-teaching after reviewing Washington State improvement framework data and early common-assessment results. He presented three years of data for students with disabilities in math, noting examples such as roughly 10% proficiency in 2022–23 and 8% in 2024–25 in the presenter’s slides, and said recently 52% of students with disabilities met proficiency on a targeted common end-of-unit assessment within a co-teaching pairing.
A prepared statement from sixth-grade math teacher Kim Gutierrez, read by Espindola, described how unit-of-study forms, common assessments and recorded data improved planning and helped new teacher partners use prior-year work: "The unit of study form helped to generate conversations about where students did well, areas they could improve on, and strategies we were using," the statement said.
Board members praised the school’s emphasis on vocabulary and PLC fidelity and asked whether general-education and highly capable students showed similar growth. Espindola replied that district data indicate growth across general-education, multilingual learners and students with disabilities, and he cited rising numbers of multilingual learners exiting ELD supports in recent years.
The presentation concluded with principal remarks that high-school credits and biliteracy achievements are a point of pride for Franklin; Espindola reported the school sent about 110 students to high school with one or more credits last year and recorded roughly 30 seals of biliteracy in the prior year. The board took no formal action on the presentation.
The district’s materials filed with the board include the school’s unit-of-study examples, ILT calendar and assessment rubrics shared during the presentation. The board moved next to other updates and approved routine policy ratings later in the meeting.
