What's at stake?
In the first review of the district’s progress towards its 2030 student and staff performance goals, FUSD fell short from its targets on early student literacy.
Fresno Unified’s first report reviewing progress on their student achievement goals through 2030 shows a slow start on improving literacy.
The district’s “goals and guardrails,” adopted earlier this year in January, outlines administrators’ objectives to improve student performance and staff standards between June 2024 and June 2030.
Superintendent Misty Her presented the district’s progress to the board on Wednesday, showing that FUSD has fallen short of their interim goals for first grade and kindergarten literacy.
“I will tell you that I am learning a lot,” Her said, explaining to the board that she has been working alongside a first grade teacher to better understand what practices are working.
The reviewed goals were:
- The percentage of first graders meeting literacy proficiency based on iReady results will increase from 48% to 80% from June 2024 to June 2030.
- The percentage of Kindergarteners mastering foundational skills in literacy as measured by the K-Foundational Skills Assessment will increase from 50.5% to 62.5% from June 2024 to June 2026. (On the district goals and guardrails webpage, 51% to 63.2%.)
Where the district falls short
For the first grader literacy goal, the district’s spring 2024-25 target was 53.4% of first graders with literacy proficiency, based on iReady results. The district fell short by 2.1% and ended the year with 51.3%. According to the district, first grader literacy proficiency must grow 5.3% each year to reach the district’s 2029-30 goal.
Across the district, 18 schools reached the district’s iReady proficiency goals, with 32 schools approaching the goal and 17 being considered off-track.
Her explained that students at schools that reached the goal were much more engaged and benefitted from more personalized instruction and timely intervention.
“We have strategically paired leaders from high performing schools with those in need of support, with the goal of replicating and adapting successful approaches to improve outcomes across our district,” Her said.
For the schools that didn’t reach the goal, Her outlined a list of steps with deadlines to help schools emphasize specific foundational skills, challenge students with more rigorous text, add additional learning past the school day, and increase staff training.
For kindergarten literacy, the district reached 54.8% of students meeting proficiency levels, falling 1.7% short of their 56.5% goal. To reach the district’s 2025-26 interim goal of 62.5%, the district notes that the percentage must grow by 6% each year.
In all, 32 schools were on track for kindergarteners, 15 schools were approaching and 20 schools were off-track, with similar actions planned to improve performance.
Despite falling short of the goals, board members still praised schools and staff for the gains made.
Trustee Claudia Cazares highlighted the improvements made to literacy between kindergarten and first grade, explaining that while the district’s goals may be ambitious, it’s necessary to improve student success.
“It’s a big jump, but we have to do that for our kids,” Cazares said, adding, “ultimately, we want to see our kids succeed.”
Creating more accountability for underperforming staff
During her presentation to the board, Superintendent Her also shared more details on how the district plans to work with teachers and other staff who are not meeting their goals.
Last June, just 27.8% of staff who were evaluated as “does not meet standards” received actionable feedback. The district is setting a goal of 100% of staff at that level receiving feedback that’s actionable by 2028.
Regarding employee feedback, Her called out the topic and said that evaluations are not being “completed with fidelity.” Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas described the issues as “unacceptable.”
“It’s a very big problem in our system,” said Trustee Susan Wittrup, who also said that she was not evaluated in her last 10 years during her time working as a school psychologist.
The district will continue to monitor its goals monthly. The district also aims to dedicate half of its public meetings to reviewing progress.
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