The Creighton Elementary School District Governing Board approved a progress monitoring report for Goal 3 — increasing English proficiency for emerging multilingual learners — and separately approved revisions to interim measures 3.2 and 3.3 at its Oct. 21 meeting.

Why it matters: District leaders said the changes reflect updated fall pretest results and aim to maintain momentum that produced a districtwide 35% rate of students moving one or more levels on the AZELLA last year. Trustees said they want targets that are ambitious but achievable and that align with the district’s student‑outcomes focus.

The presentation was led by Dr. Pambo (presenter) and Tayah Sanford, the district coordinator for language acquisition, who outlined the Goal 3 annual target of increasing the share of emerging multilingual learners who move one or more AZELLA proficiency levels to 40% by 2028. Staff reported that the district met last year’s annual target (31%) with 35% of emerging multilingual learners moving at least one level, and proposed a 34% annual target for the current year to “maintain this growth,” according to Sanford.

Sanford and colleagues reviewed three interim measures used to monitor progress. For measure 3.1 (third‑through‑eighth grade movement on the district DNA benchmark), staff said pretest/posttest comparison data were not yet available and that results would be presented at the Dec. 9 board meeting. For measure 3.2 (Grade 1–3 FastBridge oral reading fluency at the 50th percentile), staff proposed lowering the target from the previously projected 14% to 12% after fall pretest results showed 8% of students at that benchmark. For measure 3.3 (FastBridge auto‑reading foundational skills, grades 4–8), staff proposed a 24% year‑end target based on a fall pretest of 18%.

Staff described district inputs intended to support these targets, including two SEI (Structured English Immersion) cohorts (17 teachers in intensive consultation), quarterly Creighton professional learning sessions (28 teachers), reorganization to separate language acquisition and literacy supports, instructional coaching with ADE‑provided training, SEI family nights, and newly developed grammar scope‑and‑sequence guides to align teacher practice across campuses.

Board members asked about timing and data interpretation. Board member Ayers and others emphasized that cut scores for normed assessments change over time, meaning students can grow yet still fall short of percentile cutoffs. Superintendent Mann and staff said the district is focusing on “best first instruction” and intensified coaching and family engagement to support sustained growth.

Votes at the meeting: A motion to approve the Goal 3 progress monitoring report passed (motion made and seconded; vote: all voting trustees indicated “Aye”). The board then approved the specific interim measure changes for 3.2 and 3.3 (motion, second; vote: “Aye”).

What’s next: Staff will return with comparison data for measure 3.1 at the Dec. 9 meeting and continue the SEI cohorts, coaching, family nights and materials rollouts to support implementation.

Sources: Presentation and Q&A during the Oct. 21 Creighton Elementary School District Governing Board meeting. Evidence spans: progress monitoring introduction and data (meeting transcript segments starting with the Goal 3 presentation) and the subsequent motions and votes approving the report and interim‑measure changes.