District reviews 2024 California Dashboard; equity report highlights subgroup gaps

District staff presented the 2024 California Dashboard to the board on Jan. 14, walking trustees through how status-and-change measures produce color-coded performance levels and highlighting the dashboard’s built-in equity report that reveals subgroup performance differences.

Presenter Roy Lopez Jr. explained the dashboard combines current-year status and year-over-year change to generate performance levels and that science is being added to the state indicators for the first time (with status to be shown next year). While the district-level English language arts indicator was in the highest (blue) category, Lopez emphasized that the equity report shows particular subgroups — English learners, long-term English learners (LTELs), and students with disabilities — were as much as 16.4 points below standard in some measures. African American and socioeconomically disadvantaged students appeared in a lower performance band on certain local measures.

Lopez outlined next steps: a midyear local-control-and-accountability-plan (LCAP) review in February and the end-of-year LCAP process in May and June when the district will align actions and funding to respond to the dashboard's subgroup findings.

Why it matters: The dashboard's equity report is designed to surface gaps that can be masked by strong overall district performance; trustees and staff said they will use the dashboard to target resources and funding under LCAP to reduce gaps for affected student groups.

Board response and follow-up: Board members were told additional district and school-site measures (attendance/Chronic absenteeism, graduation rates, suspension rates and local measures) are part of the analysis and that staff will return in February with a midyear LCAP report outlining interventions and funding priorities to address the equity findings.