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Elementary principals present school-improvement results to Aurora East USD 131 curriculum committee
Summary
Three elementary principals told the curriculum committee May 18 that literacy and numeracy initiatives produced measurable gains this year, highlighted attendance and chronic-absence concerns and described targeted interventions for English learners and students with high referral rates.
Larry O'Mearish, principal of an elementary school in Aurora East USD 131, told the curriculum committee that his school's targets for literacy and numeracy were exceeded this year: the school set a 45% growth goal for literacy and reports that 61% of students surpassed that target. He described demographic patterns — a large population of English learners and newcomers — and said instructional coaching, targeted PD and scaffolded supports helped produce the gains.
Catherine Cahoon, principal of Bardwell Elementary School, reported improvements on state and district measures. "Our IAR proficiency in ELA increased by 9% in 2025 to 16.1 percent from 7.2 percent in 2024," Cahoon said, and she noted math proficiency rose to 6.3% in 2025. Cahoon and her team cited MAP winter-growth results showing 59% of students met expected reading growth and 66% met math growth. Bardwell leaders described practical steps that reduced behavior referrals during recess—creating rotating stations such as Jenga and tic-tac-toe and redesigning playground flow—and said differentiated small-group instruction and walk-through monitoring supported consistent instruction.
Ina Sam, principal of CI Johnson Elementary School, described Johnson's data and next steps. Sam said the school's annual daily attendance was strong at about 95.5% and that MAP and IAR measures showed room for continued growth; the team set year-end goals to increase IAR outcomes by about 7 percentage points. Assistant Principal Courtney Bessel noted subgroup concerns: chronic absenteeism is higher among some students with IEPs (Sam cited an IEP subgroup rate near 27%) and disciplinary referrals are heavily concentrated among male students. Johnson leaders are pursuing targeted social-emotional supports, playground-structure changes and classroom strategies (Kagan structures, back-to-back face-to-face, think–pair–share, fishbowl) to address engagement and behavior.
Committee members praised the school teams for aligning priority teaching practices and tying interventions to measurable outcomes. The presentations emphasized next steps for sustaining gains—continued instructional coaching, curricular alignment across English- and Spanish-dominant classrooms, and family engagement events to build belonging and attendance.
The committee will continue to review school improvement plans and any related board actions at future meetings. The curriculum committee adjourned at 6:42 p.m.; its next meeting is scheduled for June 15 at 6:00 p.m. at the district administrative center.
