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Omaha Public Schools highlights reading 'moonshot', cites improvements at three elementary schools
Summary
The district presented a strategic plan to have all students reading on grade level by 2030 and showed gains at Adams, Indian Hill and Chandler View elementary schools, while acknowledging not all schools have improved.
Shane Ryan, chief financial officer for Omaha Public Schools, used the community budget update to describe the district's strategic "moonshot": a board-adopted plan aiming for all students to read on grade level by 2030. He framed the goal as the district's singular focus and outlined recent literacy implementation and professional learning.
"Our board adopted a new strategic plan through the 2030 school year that all students will read on grade level by 2030," Ryan said, describing districtwide alignment to protect daily literacy instruction and training for teachers and paraprofessionals.
Ryan presented districtwide test-score improvements between the district's earlier and most recent state results: an 11-percentage-point increase in English language arts proficiency, a 9-point increase in math and a 13-point rise in science (district averages), and gave three school-level examples:
- Adams Elementary: reading from 38% to 56%, math 29% to 49%, English-learner proficiency 18% to 68%, and chronic absenteeism down from 29% to 20%.
- Indian Hill Elementary: reading from 9% to 35%, math 6% to 30%, growth from 6% to 81%, English-learner proficiency 33% to 42%, and chronic absenteeism down from 34% to 24%.
- Chandler View Elementary: reading from 33% to 63%, math 23% to 60%, English-learner proficiency 41% to 63%, and chronic absenteeism down from 21% to 17%.
Ryan cautioned that not all schools have shown the same progress and said the district is working with lower-performing schools to identify challenges and support more consistent implementation of literacy strategies. He said investments in teacher training, reading specialists and school-level attendance teams are central to the effort.
He connected the literacy work to budgeting decisions, saying the district will continue to invest in the initiative while making adjustments to offset the recent state-aid loss.
