Roseville Public School District reports mixed progress on reading goals, cites gains in ACT scores and teacher diversity

Jake Vondalindi, executive director of teaching and learning for the Roseville Public School District, presented the district’s annual "World’s Best Workforce" report on behalf of the district on the evening the presentation was recorded. He said the report highlights district strategic goals and key strategies aligned to statewide priorities and thanked staff for their contributions. "Our mission is excellence, innovation, and equity in all we do," Vondalindi said.

The report gave a snapshot of district scale and need: Vondalindi said the district serves about 7,676 pre-K–12 students, roughly 36% of whom are multilingual, and that about 51% of students receive educational benefits such as free or reduced-price meals. He said the district served more than 1,000,000 breakfasts and lunches last year and operates about 789 bus stops, transporting roughly 5,500 students daily.

De'Lon Smith, associate superintendent for equity and innovation, detailed the district’s Achievement & Integration (A&I) plan, a state program intended to reduce racial and economic isolation and improve student outcomes. Smith said A&I requires districts that show specific enrollment disparities to adopt goals for academic disparities, educator diversity and integration.

On academic targets, Smith said the district is not on track to meet its A&I Goal 1: raising reading proficiency for BIPOC students in grades 3–6 from a 2022 baseline of 37.4% to a target of 53.2% by 2026. "With this last MCA we had a proficiency rate for that group of 31 percent," Smith said, adding the district "is not currently on track" for that goal. He and Vondalindi emphasized that some gains from the district’s shift to structured literacy and new curricula may take multiple years to appear because third-grade reading is the first MCA reading test for many students.

Smith reported progress on other A&I goals. He said the district met Goal 2, reducing flat growth for Native American students on FAST assessments: 2024 flat growth was about 17%, down from 38% in 2022. Smith credited LETRS training and work by American Indian programs and affinity groups for supporting that improvement.

The presentation also highlighted areas of progress the district expects to build on. Vondalindi said the district’s average ACT composite rose from 18.9 in 2023 to roughly 20.0 in 2024. He described planned expansions of AVID and secondary career pathways, and opportunities for students to earn college credit while in high school.

On workforce diversity, Smith said the district set a goal to increase teachers of color from 12% in 2023 to 17% by 2026 and reported the teacher-of-color share at the start of 2024 at about 15.17%, saying recruitment and human-resources efforts have moved that figure upward.

Smith identified two racially identifiable elementary schools, Harambee and Edgerton, and outlined school-level targets intended to reduce FAST flat growth for BIPOC students (Edgerton from 16.5% to 8%; Harambee from 21% to 10% by 2026). He said current trends show the district is not on track at those sites. Smith also noted enrollment goals — Edgerton from 450 to 490 and Harambee from 270 to 300 — have moved in the wrong direction and require additional work.

To address shortfalls, presenters described a set of interventions: districtwide adoption of structured literacy and science-of-reading practices, LETRS professional development for K–4 teachers, a new K–6 ELA curriculum, K–8 screening and intervention processes, Professional Learning Communities to review progress, an equity-advancement literacy lead position, and AVID Elementary implementation.

The presentation included baseline SEL and equity survey results to be used as measures for student-reported equitable practices. Smith provided 2024 baseline averages for elementary students (teacher equitable practices 3.04; culture of equity 3.25 on a 1–4 scale) and secondary students (2.83 and 2.97) and said school-level SEL data for Harambee and Edgerton were still being generated and would be reported when available.

The presentation closed with thanks to communications staff and an invitation for the community to review linked reports providing more detailed data and next steps.