Newhall School District officials say the district’s students were able to earn and maintain high performance test scores in English language arts and mathematics, but they had some student groups that need more focus.   Chad Rose, director of instruction, assessment and accountability, presented the findings from the California Dashboard for the 2023-2024 school year during a recent school board meeting. The California Dashboard is used as an informational tool to help identify strengths, celebrate improvements and identify focus areas.  Rose said the California Dashboard reports on six state academic indicators, and that four of those six indicators apply to the Newhall School District. It also breaks up the reporting into student groups to identify which students need more focus than others.   The first indicator Rose presented was English language arts and mathematics using the data pulled from the students in grades 3-6 who take the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.  It showed that, overall, the students earned and maintained a high score of 37.6 points above the standard, declining 0.2 points from 2023. However, when looking into how specific student groups performed, English learners and students with disabilities performed the weakest.   “While we are proud of our green rating for all students, we have some focusing to do in our student groups,” said Rose.   The second indicator that was reviewed was English learner progress, using the data from the English Language Proficiency Assessment for California.   Last year, Rose said, the students performed in the medium range and this year they performed in that same medium range but declined within it for the 2023-2024 school year.   The California Dashboard reported that in 2023, 52.3% of English learner students were making progress toward English language proficiency. In 2024, the percentage declined to 46.8% of English learner students making progress.   “When students take the ELPAC assessment, they earn one of four scores. Of our students who took the assessment last year, 388 students maintained their scores or increased at least one level,” said Rose. “Two hundred, thirty-six students maintained their current level that was lessoned for, and 199 students actually decreased a level.”  He added that based off their performance they were able to reclassify 137 students, which is 18 more students than the previous year.   The district’s English learner progress was close to that of the state, but the long-term English learners fell below the state.   The board also looked at chronic absenteeism and found that they are having fewer students miss school. In 2023, 14.4% of students missed at least 10% or more of instructional school days. For 2024, the percentage of students declined to 11.4%.   Rose said the district’s numbers are still considered high, but they are moving in the right direction.   The final indicator they looked at was the suspension rate. Rose said that the district has a very low suspension rate, and it has even declined from the previous year.   In 2023, 0.9% of students were suspended and in 2024 the percentage declined to 0.4%.   Overall, the California Dashboard shows the Newhall School District had strengths in English Language Arts and Mathematics achievements and has a low suspension rate, he added.   “We do have things to focus on,” said Rose. “We need to focus on how to support those in need in our specific student groups.”  He said that the district has many systems in place to begin supporting these students and has looped them into the conversations about where they need help.   The post Newhall School District reviews data from California Dashboard  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.