The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) spent the second half of a five-hour workshop receiving presentations of unofficial trend data from district staff on Monday. The superintendent also shared his goals for the district, spanning a broad range of improvements for Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS).
According to the unofficial trend report, ACPS scores on the school year’s first round of FAST testing rated higher than the state average in almost every category. The main area of struggle was seventh-grade math scores, which Manda Bessner, director of data analytics, accountability and evaluation said is likely attributable to advanced seventh graders taking eighth-grade-level math assessments.
Attendance levels across the board are mostly above the district’s goal of 95%, with the exception of elementary Supplemental Instruction (SI) schools, which hover at 93.5% unexcused attendance.
Suspension days and discipline events are broken down by race, and African American students have the highest numbers in both categories, though overall suspension days and discipline events have fallen since last year. Grades K-2 and grade nine raise the most discipline events, which Bessner said is likely because of energy levels and unfamiliarity with school in the youngest offenders, and because high school freshmen are trying to figure out their place in the world, making mistakes along the way.
Several board members made requests, wanting to see the data broken down by gender, repeat offenders and types of disciplinary events. Bessner said she could fulfill those requests at the next strategic planning meeting.
The board has been discussing its priorities since early September and expressed frustration when Superintendent Shane Andrew did not have measurable goals to show at its last meeting. Springboarding off the unofficial trend data, Andrew shared a draft of his goals for the district at Monday’s workshop.
First, Andrew said the district’s goal will be to improve student attendance until less than 10% of students are chronically absent. Currently, that number hangs around 18%, including both excused and unexcused absences, according to Anntwanique Edwards, chief of equity, inclusion and community engagement.
Andrew said he would like to see 95% attendance for Supplemental Instruction (SI) schools, and the same level for English language learners, students with disabilities, and African American students.
Second, Andrew said he wants 100% of schools following behavior institute improvement plans and the corresponding tiered strategies from Florida’s Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS).
Third, Andrew made the reduction of out-of-school suspensions a goal, but after some discussion he and the board agreed not to set a percentage goal, in order to avoid discouraging school staff from issuing suspensions when needed.
“The important part, as has been mentioned, is making sure that the staff understands that when we’re looking for reduction, that does not mean that we are focusing on numbers. We’re focusing on practice,” Edwards said.
Fourth, Andrew said he wants to begin tracking the number of students who receive additional mental health services through ACPS’s contracted providers. This goal does not necessarily include an increase in services because there is no former data, but Andrew also said he aims for all secondary students to participate in habitudes, and for all students to take the state’s required mental health lessons.
Andrew also said he wants to keep at least 80% of staff participating in youth mental health first aid training. When the district last measured in June, 83% was participating, but Andrew said he wants to make sure that number does not fall.
Fifth, Andrew expressed the goal of having all student subgroups in the district meet the federal index of 41% in core curriculum. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) groups students by race, economic disadvantage, English language learners and those with disabilities.
“Of course, we want to be higher than that, but our first goal is, let’s get everyone to 41% when it comes to the ESSA subgroups,” Andrew said.
Board chair Tina Certain said she thinks the district can aim higher than the state average, as it already has a history of success, but Andrew said his goal is to get every subgroup at every school to the same baseline, though many may exceed beyond that base.
The superintendent’s final goal was to reduce transportation costs per student by at least 10%, reduce the number of bus routes by at least 5% and cost per mile by at least 10%. Andrew also said he wants to increase on-time arrivals and reduce the number of late buses by 5-10%.
Board members had a few minor clarifications they wanted to see in Andrew’s final, official statement of goals, including Board member Kay Abbitt’s suggestion that the document be formatted into SMART Goals that are easily measurable. The superintendent said he would make some changes and bring the list back before the board.