District project leaders gave the Humboldt Unified School District board an update on Project Momentum, the federally funded program the district is using to address low proficiency and scale evidence-based instructional practices.

Why it matters: Project Momentum couples grant funding with a structured implementation model that centralizes coaching, quarterly goals and data transparency across sites. Leaders said the grant's services are intended to reduce variability in instruction and accelerate proficiency gains across all schools.

Katrina Keta, the district's Project Momentum lead, said the grant came with 15 assurances related to compliance, leadership commitment and evidence-based strategies; the district has been working with a district coach, site self-assessments, and a data specialist who previously worked with Fairfax County, Va. Principals completed initial site self-rankings and by the district's midcycle revisit had upgraded many site rankings, Keta said.

Keta and her team described core elements of the model:
- "Gears" and quarterly goals: Schools write quarterly goals tied to the grant's six "gears," beginning with "what do we want students to learn" and moving through explicit instructional practice, collaborative structures and data cycles.
- Expert supports: The district uses a district coach, principal partners who act as on-site coaches, and a national data specialist to align data use to instruction.
- Implementation schedule: The district has set regular PLC (professional learning community) time and a monthly cycle of collaborative meetings and monitoring to sustain the work.

Keta said the district has already exceeded some of its first-year implementation targets and that site-level Galileo benchmark data and other interim measures show positive directional trends. She cautioned that ultimate success will be judged on state AASA proficiency outcomes and that final grant-year judgments are not due until after state testing windows.

Board members asked for updates on where the district currently stands relative to its Project Momentum targets, what obstacles remain and whether any sites were exceeding expectations. Keta said the district had exceeded its Year 1 implementation focus and was already moving into Years 2-3 work; she listed consistency of practice and teacher buy-in as the principal obstacles and credited improved principal leadership, dedicated PLC time and external coaching for early gains.

Next steps: District staff will continue to set quarterly goals, monitor implementation fidelity and share quarterly progress reports with the board. The board asked staff to keep reporting on proficiency trends versus growth-only metrics.