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Doctor Williams outlines plan to boost MAP growth, cites attendance gains and AVID rollout
Summary
Principal Jackson told the Urbana SD 116 board the school aims for 60% of K'5 students to meet MAP growth targets, has spent $84,646 on instructional support and reported chronic absenteeism fell to 32% from 35% last year.
Principal Jackson presented an update on Doctor Williams Elementary School's improvement plan at the Urbana School District 116 board meeting, saying the school is using an instructional framework, non-linguistic representations and targeted interventions to raise achievement.
Jackson said the school's academic goal is for 60% of students in kindergarten through fifth grade to "meet their English language arts growth projection as seen on MAP" and to reach the same 60% target for math growth. She told the board the current data show the school is "over halfway to there," with median growth around the 30th percentile and 37% of students meeting their growth projections in one measure.
To accelerate progress, Jackson described daily differentiated math blocks, small-group instruction, weekly checkpoints and exit tickets used to identify gaps and drive targeted instruction. She said leadership and grade-level teams meet in PLCs weekly and that the school has implemented co-teaching models and intervention time at primary grades.
Jackson said the district allocated $84,646 to Doctor Williams for instruction this year, and that the school used the funds to bring in an illustrative math coach who delivered professional development and classroom walk-throughs. "The coach came in and did walk throughs in our classrooms to see what practices were being implemented and what professional development needed to be targeted," she said.
On school climate and attendance, AVID and PBIS were central to the plan. Mr. Musselman, representing the AVID site team, described training, organizational tools and plans to expand AVID from fifth and fourth grades down through elementary grades. On attendance he described incentives and outreach led by the school's attendance coordinator: positive phone calls, VIP lunch tables, grade-level competitions, classroom prizes and "check-and-connect" monitoring for students with higher absence risk.
Musselman told the board, "Our chronic absenteeism rate is 32 percent, and that is actually a decrease from 35 percent last year." He added the district's cold snap earlier in the year had depressed attendance but recent weeks show improvement.
Administrators also flagged equity gaps. Jackson said proficiency disparities persist for Black students and that the school is targeting interventions to narrow those gaps as part of the plan to come out of its designated status. She said meeting growth and attendance thresholds are the main levers to remove the designation.
Board members asked for follow-up reports and clarifications; administrators said they will return in the spring with updated progress and continued implementation steps. The board did not take formal action on the improvement plan at the meeting.
