Consultants guide Las Vegas City Public Schools board to draft student-outcome goals and guard rails

Yolanda Montoya Cordova, a board consultant with CES, led a facilitated work session with the Las Vegas City Public Schools board to set high-level student-outcome goals and identify guard rails that the superintendent should protect and report on.

Montoya Cordova opened by framing the purpose: boards set the vision, mission and values and should focus accountability on student outcomes. "Student outcomes don't change until adult behaviors change," she told the board, urging members to prioritize measurable goals rather than a long list of inputs.

Board members converged on four draft goal areas: improvements in early reading and math (with an emphasis on early intervention), social-emotional and behavioral health, stronger academic programs and access to rigor (AP/dual credit) and broader postgraduation readiness (college, career and life skills including financial literacy). When asked for an example of a measurable target, the consultant read a sample goal: "The percent of third-grade students who show proficient or advanced in reading on the [state assessment] will increase from 39% in spring of 2024 to at least 50% by the spring of 2029." She said those multi-year goals should be paired with interim measures used for quarter- or trimester-based progress monitoring.

The board also worked through the concept of guard rails — community values or conditions the board wants the superintendent to protect while pursuing goals. An AI-assisted clustering of the community-ranked needs list presented by the facilitators produced six candidate guard-rail topics: academic excellence and curriculum; specialized student supports; student well-being and school culture; staffing and personnel supports (recruiting/retention and staff development); infrastructure and facilities; and community and family engagement. Facilitators recommended the board select three to five guard rails initially so the district can report on them annually, while progress on the selected goals is monitored more frequently.

On implementation, Montoya Cordova and Teresa Salazar (chief operating officer, CES) told the board the superintendent and staff should draft specific, measurable indicators and a timeline for progress reports. The facilitators described progress monitoring as regular, data-driven reports (they recommended at least three to four times per year for goals and yearly reporting for guard rails) that the board would review and approve. The consultants said the reports serve three purposes: to inform board oversight, to support superintendent evaluation through documented performance evidence, and to provide material for community updates and legislative advocacy.

Superintendent Sandival and district staff participated throughout, describing operational considerations such as a capstone credit-recovery program that can recover up to six credits and the challenge of addressing student attendance, mental health and other factors that often surface when students fall behind. Board members and facilitators discussed using indicators such as attendance, nurse visits, and discipline data as proxies for social-emotional progress when appropriate, while relying on assessment data for academic goals.

Next steps agreed by the group: the board will finalize its choice of three-to-five high-level goals and select guard rails; the superintendent and staff will propose specific baselines, interim metrics and a reporting calendar; facilitators will provide templates, sample progress-monitoring slides and examples from other districts for the board to review; and the board will consider formal adoption of goals and guard rails at a future meeting. The session ended with a voice vote to adjourn.

The session produced clear deliverables rather than final policy: the board established draft priorities and a process for measurable reporting, and assigned the superintendent and staff to translate those priorities into an actionable strategic plan and a progress-monitoring schedule for board review and approval.