Saline Area Schools outlines revised academic and SEL goals, curriculum and staffing steps in fall continuous-improvement update

At the Sept. 30 Saline Area Schools Board of Education meeting, district instructional leaders presented the district's annual continuous improvement update, describing revised academic and social-emotional learning (SEL) goals, curriculum review cycles, staffing changes and new data tools intended to improve instruction and monitoring.

The update, presented by Cara Davis with members of the district's teaching-and-learning team, said the district revised its primary academic goal to emphasize increased student mastery across content areas through improved Tier 1 instruction supported by aligned MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support) and PBIS (positive behavioral interventions and supports). District leaders also described a reframing of SEL work toward a districtwide system for "comprehensive school safety," integrating restorative practices, trauma-informed approaches and proactive behavior supports.

District staff said the changes matter because they expand a narrow, test-focused goal into a systemic strategy designed to improve access and outcomes for all student subgroups while attending to student and staff safety and well-being. The presentation tied the academic goal to curriculum review cycles and to MTSS/PBIS practices meant to standardize instruction and interventions across buildings.

Officials outlined recent and planned programming and staffing changes behind those goals. Highlights in programming included a two-year curriculum-review cycle (currently in year two for social studies, secondary ELA, phonics and early childhood), ongoing work in math and science that is now in a check-in phase, a districtwide after-school support program called Homework Hive for grades 6'12 (under revision to boost participation), a high-school math learning-lab pilot, and an updated ESL curriculum and added high-school grammar and composition offerings.

On staffing, presenters said the district expanded an early-childhood specialist role, hired an ESL-certified teacher to increase EL service minutes, created a dedicated Heritage MTSS building coordinator to allow regular team time in that building, and contracted occupational therapists in every building under the SEA agreement. The district also moved SEL coaches under the teaching-and-learning umbrella and added a district director of safety and security; officials described a career pathway for paraeducators to become registered behavior technicians (RBTs).

Administrators described investments in teacher learning and data tools: the district purchased a new analytics platform called Schoollytics to replace Illuminate, trained teachers this summer in UFLI (the adopted phonics curriculum) using trainers from the University of Florida paid for in part with a 35j grant that the presenters said wrapped up at the end of the grant period, and offered content-specific professional development in K—2 math literacy and NGSS science training for middle- and high-school science teachers.

Presenters cited results and areas for monitoring. They said social studies and science scores showed positive trends on the M-STEP in tested grades, AP participation and the share scoring 3'or above increased, and some reading indicators reached post-pandemic highs. Areas flagged for continued attention included math outcomes across grade levels, disproportionality in math in which males outperformed females (a gap the presenters described as as large as 20 percentage points in M-STEP data), acquisition of foundational math and literacy skills, and AP pathways expansion.

Board members asked for follow-up. Trustee Jason asked how the district decided which pilot programs to implement and whether any initiatives were deprecated; presenters said the district uses its continuous improvement monitoring cycle to adapt programs, cited the math lab pilot as an example that will be revised rather than immediately abandoned, and listed specific things that were consolidated (for example, the phonics curriculum now uses UFLI districtwide, replacing multiple prior options). Trustee Jennifer asked for grades and next steps on the gender gap in math; presenters said the observation came from M-STEP and that staff will triangulate with other assessments (NWEA, local diagnostics) and convene math teacher leaders to address math identity and participation. Trustees also asked about professional development time and how the district systematizes teacher collaboration; presenters described about 30 hours of structured professional learning time and a cycle of teacher-leader meetings and cross-district alignment activities.

District staff framed SEL work as a multi-tiered effort. They reported more than 70% of students, staff and guardians responding positively on multiple items from the district's annual quality survey (positive interactions with staff; culture that supports well-being; ethical and responsible citizenship) and said work already includes classroom instruction (community meetings and advisories), PBIS-targeted teaching at the middle school, restorative-practice rollout for staff, comprehensive school safety training, and threat-assessment training. Officials emphasized the goal of unified, K—2 SEL curriculum and aligned PBIS supports to build consistency and collective efficacy.

Presenters closed by noting the continuous-improvement work is iterative and monitored: staff said they will continue quarterly monitoring, make mid-year adjustments, and report progress back to teachers, school teams and the board.

Ending: Board members praised the update and asked for continued reports on the math-disproportionality work and outcomes as the year progresses.