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District leaders mark end of three‑year NCUST partnership, credit shifts in instruction and data culture
Summary
La Mesa-Spring Valley officials and principals reviewed a three‑year partnership with the National Center for Urban Schools Transformation, citing principal coaching, school visits and a focus on standards-aligned instruction. Principals reported site improvements, including an approximately 9% ELA gain at one campus and district moves from 'orange' to 'green' on state dashboard measures at another.
District leaders presented a final report on Aug. 5 marking the end of a three-year partnership with the National Center for Urban Schools Transformation (NCUST). A district presenter summarized the partnership's structure — initial school visits and audit reports followed by aligned principal coaching and instructional leadership team work — and said the goal was to embed equity-focused, evidence-based practices districtwide.
Principals who worked with NCUST described concrete changes. Principal Stephanie (first name used in the transcript) said coaching helped her provide more actionable feedback to teachers and credited the work with Maryland Avenue’s shift "from orange to green in our, math and from yellow to green in our ELA." Another principal who led Loma Elementary reported about 9% growth in ELA and 7% growth in math since implementing the NCUST recommendations and said her staff adopted priority standards, common formative assessments and a stronger focus on instructional rigor.
Dr. Jeff Thiele, an executive coach with NCUST, told the board he observed a transformation in culture and stronger use of data: "...the reports were saying, well, you need to improve upon the rigor in the classroom, the instruction." He urged continued revisiting of audit reports and described three transformation pillars — culture, rigorous standards-aligned instruction, and district-driven initiatives to support principals and teachers.
Board members asked how the district will sustain gains after external coaching ends and how it will course-correct if test scores dip. The district presenter said the district's plan is to embed the NCUST framework in the cycle of professional learning, ensure incoming principals receive prior audit reports and use instructional leadership teams to maintain momentum, while acknowledging no guarantee the work will persist unchanged.
The board received the report and discussed next steps for embedding the practices; no formal policy action related to the NCUST presentation was taken at the meeting.
