Poway Unified dashboard shows high overall performance but flags English learner progress

Poway Unified’s executive team presented the district’s 2024–25 California School Dashboard at the Dec. 11 board meeting, showing generally high performance across academic, engagement, and college-and-career indicators but identifying persistent weaknesses in English learner progress.

Executive Director Julie Goldberg reviewed how the dashboard uses status and change metrics and noted the district remained in the highest color category for ELA, math and science overall. However, she highlighted that long-term English learners, students with disabilities and students experiencing homelessness appear in lower performance tiers for several indicators and that English learner progress (ELPAC-based) dropped, with declines concentrated in eight schools. Goldberg said about 2,300 English learners were served in 2024–25 and approximately 1,300 students were included in LPAC calculations requiring two years of ELPAC data.

Trustees pressed for details about which schools drove the districtwide decline, whether it was a small-number swing effect, and what targeted interventions the district planned. Goldberg said staff are collaborating with the English Learner department and will tailor professional development and school-specific improvement plans for the schools with the most significant declines; staff noted additional reporting and a deeper dive would be provided in January/February. Several trustees and the superintendent emphasized the need to connect data findings to recommended expenditures and staffing decisions.

The presentation also covered participation-rate penalties and how they can affect academic indicators if participation falls below the federally required 95% threshold. The district said participation had improved and the impact on the dashboard was minimal for this year.

Next steps: district staff will return with a deeper breakdown of the English learner declines, proposed targeted supports for affected schools, and any associated budget implications.