Cedar Hill High and Hilltop Academy leaders report student gains, staffing challenges and academic adjustments
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Summary
Campus leaders highlighted incremental academic improvements and persistent operational challenges: Cedar Hill High reported a 92.84% attendance rate with a 96% goal, changes to algebra assessment cadence and Exact Path implementation fixes; Hilltop Academy described an alternative-pathway model with steady graduation attainment and CCMR progress.
Campus leaders used the board meeting to report on instructional priorities, early outcomes and local challenges at two district campuses.
Courtney Washington (introduced on the record as principal at Cedar Hill High School) presented a campus spotlight centered on algebra instruction. Washington said the campus attendance rate is 92.84%, an improvement of roughly 0.17 percentage points from the prior year, and stated a campus target of 96%. She detailed adjustments to formative assessments (replacing three DCCAs every six weeks with two DCCAs every nine weeks) and described Exact Path implementation problems earlier in the year (late start, login issues) that prompted a return to using the last 30 minutes of each class for Exact Path practice to improve fidelity. "We started the year without algebraic reasoning, but we were able to get that FTE back," Washington said, adding that staffing shifts mean the campus currently has two algebra teachers (down from three last year) and that a substitute is covering one algebraic-reasoning assignment.
Washington reported six teacher vacancies and one paraprofessional vacancy on the campus and outlined supports being provided, including PLCs, instructional push-in by math leadership, targeted RTI, and a mentoring program (15-to-win) to improve student outcomes. She emphasized that some students reported classes as "boring" in a youth-survey and said engagement-focused professional development was underway to address that feedback.
Keith Petty, principal of Hilltop Academy (Strive), described the program's graduation-attainment focus for students who are behind cohort credits. Petty noted recent graduate counts (recent years: 29, 35, 29) and said the program aims to remove barriers to graduation through mentoring, CTE opportunities and concentrated credit-attainment strategies; Petty also raised operational issues related to moving to the Lacey Center next year.
What trustees asked: Trustees pressed for details on the Exact Path schedule change and sought assurances about supports for resource classes and substitute-led sections. District staff acknowledged the need to restore exact-path implementation time to improve student trophies and mastery rates and said training and staffing adjustments are planned for the spring.
Next steps: Administration will continue to recruit to fill vacancies, monitor DCCA and Exact Path metrics, and return data to the board as part of routine campus accountability reporting.
