Justice, Shear elementary schools showcase student-centered initiatives and the "Portrait of a Clark County learner"

Two elementary schools presented leadership spotlights during the special meeting, summarizing initiatives aimed at improving belonging, engagement and instructional outcomes.

Justice Elementary described its "big rocks" for the year: belonging, consistency and coherence. School staff said they implemented "Jags on the Block," taking staff and activities into neighborhoods to meet families where they live, and launched a cross-grade house system to build belonging and address areas such as cafeteria behavior. "We go to them and meet them where they're at," the Justice presenter said, explaining the outreach model. Staff also described relationship mapping intended to ensure every student has a positive adult connection in the building.

Shear Elementary focused on instructional structures and the district's Portrait of a Clark County learner. Presenters described coaching for teachers, increased use of active engagement strategies, and co-teaching stations that place general-education teachers, special-education teachers and instructional assistants together to scaffold and deliver grade-level content. Shear staff reported monitoring results: in 77% of observations students were actively engaged; median typical growth figures were cited (104% in reading and 100% in math) and stretch-growth targets were met by subsets of students (roughly 31% reading; 26% math schoolwide for stretch goals).

Both schools said student showcases and family events helped communicate the portrait-of-learner competencies and provided authentic audiences for student work. Presenters emphasized that these programs are ongoing priorities rather than one-off events.

No formal board action was required for the spotlights; the presentations were part of the meeting's leadership-spotlight agenda item.