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Interim Cedar Grove principal reports reading gains, targeted interventions and family SSTs
Summary
Interim principal Colleen Keller told the board that Cedar Grove Elementary has seen reading and fluency gains after targeted interventions, citing sample data (e.g., fifth-grade below-grade percentage reduced from ~30% to 13%) and describing 16 family SST meetings with four follow-ups.
Colleen Keller, interim principal at Cedar Grove Elementary, presented the school's student-achievement data and intervention strategy to the San Joaquino School Board on March 3.
Keller described a multi-tiered system of supports, including targeted small-group instruction and programs such as UFLI and Read Naturally for early-decoding and fluency work. She summarized sample assessment results and said the school has seen improvements in reading accuracy and fluency across grades. "In fifth grade... 30 percent of the kids were at or below grade level in the fall, and now we're down to 13 percent of the kids that are below grade level," Keller said, highlighting the progress shown in her presentation slides.
Keller outlined the student-support-team (SST) process: teachers initiate referrals, the SST (including the principal, counselor, MTSS specialist Katie Pickrell and the classroom teacher) meets with families for an hour, reviews prior interventions, and plans more intensive tiered supports. Keller said, "We've met with 16 families so far this year. Four have come back the second time for us to kind of look at things."
Board members asked about the nature of common assessments, how behaviors are recorded in Skyward, and whether students are included in the SST process. Keller said assessments are grade-level common assessments and that younger students' participation in SST-related conversations is age-dependent, with third grade and older more likely to be directly involved.
Keller also described professional development tied to MTSS and AAP goals and said teachers are using flexible "walk-to-read" and "walk-to-math" groupings to match instruction to student needs.
Next steps: The principal said she will continue interventions, track outcomes in Skyward, and support staff to scale the approaches that produce growth.
