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La Joya ISD shows early gains at turnaround campuses; district projects scenarios to raise students in A/B-rated schools from 47% toward 85%
Summary
District staff told the board that targeted supports and ACE implementation at low-performing campuses are producing year-over-year gains at several schools; administrators outlined scenarios showing how school actions and campus WIGs could raise the share of students in A/B-rated schools from 47% to as high as 85% if all designated goals are met.
La Joya ISD officials told the board April 8 that targeted interventions at four superintendent-constraint campuses are producing measurable year-over-year improvements and could meaningfully shift the district's "Northstar" metric, which tracks the share of students attending A- and B-rated campuses.
Dr. Little said two campuses (Garza and Sigin) are implementing the ACE (Accelerated Campus Excellence) model with outside monitoring; Garza received ACE school-action funding and external observations from TEA and Texas Tech, and the district reported Garza is among the new ACE campuses showing high fidelity in its first year. All four constraint campuses are also receiving coaching through a Breakthrough Results partnership to run rapid continuous-improvement cycles.
District slides presented year-over-year test-benchmark comparisons across math, reading, science and social studies for the four campuses, with particularly strong elementary-level gains at Sigin and Garza (11 of 13 tested areas improved at Sigin and 10 of 13 at Garza). Dr. Little stressed that STAR and benchmark testing days are active and attendance on test days is crucial to final accountability results.
Officials then walked the board through scenarios for the Northstar goal: the district currently reports 47% of students attend A/B-rated campuses (based on last year's accountability), and the approved school actions already move that to 53% by shifting attendance boundaries and reassignments. If ACE campuses meet their WIGs (for example moving from F to C), the percentage of students at D/F campuses drops substantially; the district's best-case scenario, if every campus hits its WIG, would move the district to roughly 85% of students attending A/B-rated schools and eliminate D/F campuses.
Board members asked about the concentration of low-performing campuses at the elementary level and the supports in place; staff said they are expanding monitoring, refining interventions and will continue to report results as STAR and end-of-year MAP testing conclude.
