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Principals report early-childhood gains, program highlights and attendance pushes across Belton schools
Summary
Principals from Grace, the Scott Educational Center, Belton Middle and Belton High reported early-childhood assessment growth at Grace, special-education and alternative-program successes at Scott, an AI tutoring pilot at the middle school and a districtwide emphasis on improving attendance.
Principals and building leaders updated the Belton School Board on student assessments, program successes and attendance initiatives across the district.
At Grace elementary, Principal Amy Lovelin described results from the PKOF (pre-kindergarten observation form) and the DECA social-emotional screener: in May, 95% of Grace’s four-year-olds assessed as proficient on the PKOF; when the cohort was narrowed to exclude children of staff who left the district for kindergarten elsewhere, the percent proficient was 74%, and when those students were followed into kindergarten the fall proficiency rate was 68% — a roughly 6-percentage-point decline the school will monitor as a possible summer slide. Lovelin said the district expanded PKOF to three-year-olds this year and that DECA screens indicated 76% of monitored children demonstrated typical or strong social-emotional skills.
At Scott Educational Center, a building representative said the Ignite and autism programs reported that roughly 85% of monitored students met or were progressing toward their IEP and BIP goals; 32 of 38 Ignite students had 90%+ attendance. The center highlighted pre-employment transition services and partnerships with local trade training centers.
Belton Middle School Principal Brian Cecil reported academic gains in four of six CIP categories and described district use of Thinkverse, an adaptive AI tutor for math, which the school is piloting for grades six through nine. Cecil said year-to-date proportional attendance was about 81% and described targeted interventions for a ‘bubble’ group of students near the 90% threshold.
The Belton High School principal emphasized growth across subjects, academy/career pathway work that places students in real-world projects, and strong incentives and outreach to improve attendance and student engagement.
Why it matters: The assessments and pilots guide instructional priorities, early-intervention work, special-education supports and attendance strategies — each of which can affect learning outcomes and resource allocation.
Quotes and context: Amy Lovelin said the DECA screening provides strategies and handouts for parents and teachers for children identified with social-emotional needs. Brian Cecil described Thinkverse as teacher-driven, integrated via class-link, and able to create individualized practice and monitoring.
Next steps: Schools will continue tracking student growth across PKOF/DECA cycles, expand summer and intervention supports, analyze attendance-incentive effectiveness and report results back to the board.
