The Austin ISD Board of Trustees accepted two monitoring reports during the April 12 information session: a monitoring report on second‑grade numeracy (Goal Progress Measure 2.1) and a report on disparity rates for exclusionary discipline for African American students and students receiving special education services (Constraint Progress Measures 5.2 and 5.3).

Numeracy report (Goal 2.1): District staff presented data on second‑grade students scoring in the intervention range on the NWEA MAP math screener and described a renewed focus on early numeracy, MTSS, teacher professional learning and a stabilized core curriculum (STEMScopes). Dr. Maryanne Maxwell and Jennifer Pace summarized root causes including post‑COVID learning gaps, frequent curriculum changes in recent years, and gaps in math‑focused family materials and manipulatives. The administration said it is implementing a structured professional‑learning sequence, increasing instructional coaching, auditing hands‑on materials and refining tier‑2/tier‑3 intervention materials to reduce the percentage of students who qualify for intervention.

Discipline report (Constraint 5.2/5.3): The district reported mid‑year data on disparity rates for exclusionary discipline (ISS, OSS and other removals). Staff said districtwide disproportionality for African American students was approximately within the district target and that district leaders had identified rising counts in certain incident categories — especially fights — that increased total disciplinary actions across multiple racial and program groups. Presenters said they are calibrating coding, expanding MTSS and restorative practices supports, increasing campus‑level supports such as instructional coaches and interventionists, and reconciling discipline and attendance records to reduce “shadow discipline” (unreported removals).

Board votes: Trustee Quintana moved to accept the numeracy monitoring report; Trustee Hunter seconded. The motion passed with trustees on the dais voting in favor. Later the board voted to accept the discipline monitoring report; Trustee Quintana moved and Trustee Lily Chu seconded. Trustees voted to accept the report; the board announced the motion passed.

What the board asked: Trustees pressed the administration for root‑cause detail and for metrics that will show whether interventions result in durable change — for example, longitudinal tracking of students who move between MTSS tiers and data on independent educational evaluation (IEE) rates and whether escalation of certain incident types affects disproportionality. District staff said supervisors review a sample of evaluations and that the discipline team will perform additional audits and reconciling to ensure accurate reporting.

Next steps and follow up: The district said it will continue training for teachers and leaders; expand access to math manipulatives and STEMScopes supports; and pursue root‑cause analyses of disparity outcomes, particularly for African American students and students with disabilities. Trustees requested ongoing updates and asked that the district return with additional KPIs showing longitudinal movement across intervention tiers and reconciled discipline records.