Adams Elementary

Community Council Minutes
May 19, 2025 @ 3:00 PM
Faculty Room

Minutes

• Discussed next year’s community council. All members agreed to stay on the committee next year and to keep the same time for meetings.
• Marisa reported on our LandTrust Goal: School Improvement Plan Report

  • Goal 1: Increase the number of students scoring composite above benchmark (blue) on Acadience from BOY to EOY by 2% higher than the previous year. 

  • Target: 75% of students scoring blue by end of year

  • Result: Ended at 58% blue, which is a 5% increase from the beginning of the year. Combining green and blue, we are at 74%.

• Marisa reported on possible factors for not reaching goal and the council discussed the following:

  • What are the 1% decreases that could have gone into not reaching the goal?

    • Student population change: More students who started the year red (67 students this year vs. 39 last year). 19 students moved in throughout the year, many of whom were below benchmark.

    • More non-English speaking newcomers than ever before

    • Curriculum transition: A shift to CKLA curriculum may have resulted in some loss of foundational skills that are needed to close the gap for students reading below benchmark.

    • Staff transitions 

    • Test Administration Changes: new testing procedures and reports were harder for teachers to navigate.

    • Attendance issues: Chronic absenteeism, which is a district-wide concern

      • Frank Stewart talked about different things that the school-district is doing to help with attendance issues.

      • Marisa plans to meet with students before school starts next year

        • Explained the “Everyday counts” movement in the state

      • Community council members asked if there’s a way to let parents know how many days they have missed and Marisa said she would look into it.

      • Attendance problems are happening in every grade level.

• Marisa then explained the plans for next year and the council discussed:

  • Increased intervention time

  • RTI Specialist Support

  • Improved test administration

  • New Assessment (NWEA): help triangulate the data and target interventions more efficiently

  • Behavior Support

  • Conscious Discipline: Focus on handling classroom behaviors

  • Time Audits: Ensure we are using instructional time intentionally and effectively

• Marisa asked for thoughts/suggestions from Council:

  • Frank asked about the Responsibility Chart and how it has been going this year.

• Goal 2: 100% of students taking the WIDA test will improve their composite score by at least one level.

  • Result: Of the 45 students who took the WIDA test:

    • 12 students (48%) improved by at least one level.

    • 24 students showed some level of improvement.

    • The average increase was 0.9, nearly a full level increase for students overall.

    • 6 students passed out of WIDA.
    • Thursday, May 1st (4th, 1st)

• Possible Factors for Not Reaching the Goal: 

  • Student demographics: 18 students did not have growth scores, which impacted the overall results

  • Language support: Newcomers who were non-English speakers may need more targeted scaffolding to access the curriculum effectively.

• Plans for Next Year:

  • Focus on Acadience Reading

  • ELL Specialist

  • School-Wide Intervention Time

• Other Celebrations: 

  • Strong school culture

  • Leadership and collaboration: Coalition team will read the book “Taking Action” to support PLC process, and strengthen our systems for next year.

  • Positive growth

  • Significant Decrease in Suspensions 57.45% decrease

• Marisa asked for thoughts/suggestions from the council:

  • Asked about the Acadience Reading test and how the data works

  • Asked about the possibility of parents volunteering for other grades

  • We also discussed having parents volunteer during the 45 minutes of school-wide interventions

  • Asked about any changes in the teaching staff next yearMotion to adjourn: Isabelle, 2nd: Josephine