Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Academic Performance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lubbock ISD lays out 'North Star' targets and instructional plans as reading scores show tighter grading
Summary
District leaders told trustees the 'North Star' goal aims to boost students in A/B-rated schools from 42% to 80% by June 2026 and said recent drops in early-reading measures reflect tighter grading calibration and renewed focus on writing instruction and HQIM rollout, not solely learning loss.
Lubbock ISD officials on Wednesday reviewed district progress measures and a multiyear goal they said will guide instruction and resource decisions.
"The North Star goal, which is by June 2026, the percentage of students serving in A and B schools will increase from 42% to 80%," presentation lead Chris Lopez told the board, walking trustees through year-by-year benchmarks and current first-9-weeks data.
Why it matters: trustees and staff said the benchmark will shape where the district targets professional development, curricular investments and grant applications. Lopez and colleagues presented specific content goals — for example, increasing the share of third graders meeting reading expectations from 52% to 56% by June 2025 — and described work underway to support teachers.
Lopez cautioned trustees not to read the latest early-reading numbers as a simple decline in student ability. "We did have a slight decrease in terms of performance, but I will tell you with confidence that I feel like we're moving in the right trajectory," he said, adding that a primary driver of the decreased meets/masters numbers is a tighter, more consistent application of the district writing rubric during scoring.
Staff described two related steps aimed at reversing the trend: a district-wide calibration effort for RLA scoring and targeted professional development delivered through what Lopez called "RLA roadshows" and campus-level coaching. "Our RLA team has done a phenomenal job getting on the road and visiting almost every campus in the district and providing professional development," Lopez said.
On math, the district reported measurable gains. Lopez attributed improved third-grade math results — with increases across approaches, meets and masters thresholds — to full implementation of the Eureka curriculum across 28 campuses and support from the LASSO grant, a TEA-funded program that provides coaching and administrator PLCs.
Instructional materials and teacher leaders: trustees heard plans to expand use of "high-quality instructional materials" (HQIM) across contents and campuses. The presentation named Eureka and Amplify as primary materials and described a teacher-leader program (referred to as a BluePond Ambassador program) to support lesson internalization, peer PLCs and recorded exemplar lessons for teacher training.
What remains unresolved: trustees pressed staff about whether training began this year and how quickly scoring changes should translate into improved outcomes. Staff said calibration and targeted writing work should stabilize scores and produce gains in the next reporting window but did not provide exact timelines beyond the 2025–2026 North Star milestones.
Next steps: staff will continue campus coaching, implement the BluePond Ambassador PLCs, and use grant-funded supports (including LASSO) to sustain Eureka implementation. Trustees did not take formal action in the workshop; the district adjourned into an executive session earlier in the meeting under Texas Government Code Chapter 551 and reconvened to receive the workshop.
