Sunset Ridge principal outlines academic goals, SEL initiatives and intervention strategy

Principal Todd Graves and Assistant Principal Stephanie Goad presented Sunset Ridge Intermediate School’s progress and priorities to the board, focusing on three school improvement goals: a math goal (numbers and operations), a targeted ELA goal (informational comprehension) and social-emotional learning measured by a student sense-of-belonging survey.

Graves described the school’s "through line" approach that ties initiatives, goals and classroom practices together to keep initiatives aligned to student needs. He said Sunset Ridge has emphasized teacher collaboration and staff ownership of goals since the school opened and that the staff will revisit the mission annually.

Goad reviewed two key initiatives: refining Professional Learning Team (PLT) practices (aligned to district PLT/PLC questions and universal design) and expanding embedded professional development during the school day. She said the school has completed four rounds of learning walks this year, recorded 79 lessons observed across 25 classrooms, and uses a walkthrough tool aligned to school improvement goals.

Administrators showed early assessment tracking, including an i-Ready–based tool projecting Smarter Balanced proficiency if students achieve typical or “stretch” growth. They reported 101 students already met stretch-growth targets in reading and 46 in math this year. The school described roughly 20 WIN intervention offerings, with 70% of fifth graders and 74% of sixth graders enrolled in a math WIN class; 52 students participate in accelerated math.

School counselors outlined Minute Meetings (brief one-on-one check-ins), small-group counseling on topics such as anxiety and emotion management, and the connection-center mentor program. Counselors said more than 70 students have received SEL WIN interventions and an additional group of roughly the same size have participated in social lunch groups.

During Q&A, board members asked about missing data points and comparability across grade-configuration models (whether fifth grade belongs in an intermediate school or K–5). Graves said he would pull historical and comparative data for the board. The administration noted some survey wording issues that they plan to refine for clearer student responses in future rounds.

The presentation closed with student remarks about belonging and school culture; students credited teachers, electives and leadership activities with contributing to their sense of connection.

The board took no formal vote on the presentation, but several directors praised the staff and requested follow-up data about fifth-grade outcomes and comparative assessments.