South Whittier School District held their monthly board meeting Tuesday, February 18, at the district office. There were three presentations that took place. The first was a recognition from Monte Vista for students and a teacher. The second presentation was about Howard J. McKibben’s student achievement and action plan. Lastly, the board received a mid-year instructional update presentation.
Monte Vista Elementary Student & Teacher Recognition
Monte Vista Elementary principal, Carmen Durand, recognized students for their academic achievement and growth. Some students were recognized for improving by 200 points or more in either English Language Arts or Math on their Star 360 test. Four other students were also recognized for being reclassified from being an English Leaner. Awesome job students!
Monte Vista teacher, Mr. Acosta, was recognized for being an exceptional teacher. Mrs. Durand spoke about how Mr. Acosta is dedicated, dependable, and has an exceptional connection with students that allows all students to thrive in his class. Thank you Mr. Acosta for all you do for our students!
Howard J. McKibben Elementary Achievement Presentation
McKibben Elementary’s principal, Jan Tyrone, gave a presentation on student achievement and CAASPP data. She shared about English Language Arts, or ELA, and Math CAASPP scores, McKibben’s goals, and what they are doing to achieve those goals.
The CAASPP dashboard rates schools by color. Schools are rated from red, orange, yellow, green, and then blue which is the highest score. McKibben Elementary earned a green for ELA and for Math.
A few of McKibben’s ELA goals include committing funds in order to provide additional adult support during STAR 360 testing. They have implemented “power blocks” in all grade levels to support students and have identified specific instructional strategies in order to deliver effective ELD instruction including Think/Pair/Share, and much more.
In math they have created many goals including identifying students struggling in mathematics based on CASSPP scores and committed to an additional level of support through small group instruction. Teachers are implementing instructional strategies in order to deliver effective mathematics instruction. All teachers have implemented goal setting strategies in order to support student awareness of their current academic performance level and their desired increase.
Mid-Year Instructional Update Presentation
The last presentation of the evening was by the Associate Superintendent of Educational Services, Martha Mestanza-Rojas, and the Director of Assessment, Accountability, and Parent Engagement, Dr. Stacy Ayers-Escarcega. The presentation was a mid-year instructional update.
They shared that South Whittier’s belief is “Given the opportunities and resources there is no limit to what a student can achieve.” With that belief in mind the district is striving to improve student achievement for all students in the area of ELA and math, and to close the achievement gap for English Learners.
Rojas and Dr. Ayers discussed focusing direction of our educational programs. This includes ensuring strong first instruction, instructional agreements, making data driven instruction, and designated and integrated English Language development.
The district is also implementing a collaborative culture among teachers. They use the Continuous Improvement Model (Plan, Do, Analyze, Reflect). They have made a district-wide commitment to student, teacher, and leadership collaboration that has made a positive impact on teaching and learning in South Whittier.
They have also implemented ways to secure accountability through a variety of student assessments and data. Teachers now are able to reflect on a student’s growth through data from CAASPP scores, STAR 360 scores, IABs (Benchmarks aligned to CAASPP), writing proficiency scores, DIBELS, various curriculum embedded assessments, and daily formative assessments.
After sharing the instructional implementations, their presentation shared data about student scores from CAASPP from the past few years to compare growth and view areas of need. They then shared reflections with the board about what they have seen in the classrooms and discussed next steps to ensure the urgency for improvement and improved results for all student groups.
The next board meeting will be on Tuesday, March 10, at 6 PM at the district office.