DeCaney High leaders show early gains as district scales instructional practices

School and district leaders presented an instructional update for DeCaney High School on Jan. 13, laying out classroom strategies, assessment cadence, coaching models and early outcome data the district said reflect initial progress. Presenters described a focus on consistent adult practices—daily PLCs, weekly exit tickets, writing Wednesdays and wraparound coaching—paired with weekly or biweekly formative assessments.

"Student outcomes do not change unless adult behavior changes," a campus presenter summarized while outlining the Spring 6 transforming tenets that guide classroom expectations and monitoring. The team described a structure of do-nows, board configuration and quick-check whiteboards to make student thinking visible and to drive reteach decisions.

District staff highlighted concrete EOC retester results from a December administration at DeCaney: Algebra I (MET standard) outperformed the state by 8 percentage points; English I by 4 points; English II by 3 points; and U.S. History by 36 points. The district said those campus-level gains reflect targeted interventions for students who previously failed courses or assessments and intensified instruction and scheduling for retest populations.

Trustees asked about how data are used to set weekly and long-term goals, how student stamina for longer writing tasks is being developed, and whether writing Wednesdays include non-core classes. Presenters said core-subject writing is the initial focus and that teachers are using Schoology and Eduphoria to give students frequent computer-based writing practice.

Superintendent and board members praised the approach and asked staff to continue tracking outputs such as MAP assessment results and EOC performance as the practices are replicated across other campuses. Administrators said a broader presentation on district MAP assessment outcomes will be scheduled in coming weeks.