Barstow Unified approves county math coaching and expanded Kagan coaching and family engagement pilot

Barstow Unified trustees approved three instructional support contracts aimed at strengthening classroom practice and family engagement: a consultant agreement with the County Superintendent for math coaching and two contracts with Kagan for cooperative learning coaching and a new family engagement pilot.

Miss Fischer, presenting the math coaching contract, said county coaches will work onsite at Central STEM, Barstow Intermediate, Barstow Junior High and Barstow High School to support teachers with lesson planning and co‑teaching. “They come in and co‑teach with them so that they can learn best practices for math instruction,” she said.

The board also approved a renewed Kagan cooperative learning coaching contract to bring short in‑class coaching sessions and immediate feedback to teachers at participating sites. Trustees asked whether participation would be mandatory; staff replied participation decisions will be made by principals and based on site needs, and some teachers who already trained in cooperative learning may not repeat the training.

Trustees approved a separate Kagan family engagement contract to pilot roughly one‑hour sessions at each site to show families cooperative learning structures and simple home activities that reinforce classroom strategies. A trustee asked staff to collect participation data and report back at the program’s conclusion; staff agreed to return with outcomes.

Why it matters: the contracts expand direct instructional coaching and add a family engagement element to align classroom practice with home support, leveraging county coaches and private vendors to supplement site‑level supports. The board approved the contracts during the consent/pulled items portion of the meeting.

Next steps: staff will schedule coaching visits with principals, track family engagement participation, and report results to the board.