Student achievement to be addressed in special meeting

Tuesday’s special school board meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the district offices on Railroad Avenue. Just one item is on the table for discussion: student achievement.
Superintendent Pam Martens said the district would like to use this meeting as an opportunity to inform the board and the community about the work currently being done to enhance student achievement. “This meeting will provide a venue for continued dialog about how to improve strategies and actions based on best practices,” said Martens.
According to school board president Dan Gustafson, the board is interested in looking over student achievement and the so-called achievement gap between English language learners and native English speakers to be sure that every student’s needs are being met.
“This is an ongoing process as we get ready to review the strategic plan,” said Gustafson. “We’re concerned with doing the best we can for all students so that they have pathways to success.”
When reviewing the strategic plan, the board looks at the current curriculum, the programs in place at each school as well as STAR test scores, among other measurements. Also being reviewed are programs that work well at other schools. This was addressed at the last regular meeting when board members were shown a presentation of Lincoln Elementary in Long Beach, an urban elementary school that was in program improvement four years ago. Today, the school has an API of over 800, it is a California Distinguished School and had high achieving classes in all classes from grades one through five.
At this time Gustafson said the board is feeling a sense of urgency due, in large part, to the delays caused by the “strange” budget year. “We had a fair amount of distractions in dealing with the budget,” he said. “Now, we’re ready to get back on track and get our stakeholders interested. Student achievement is our highest goal and we’re ready to move forward.”