NEW ULM — The New Ulm Public School Board unanimously approved the revised 2024 Comprehensive Achievement and Civic Readiness (CACR) Plan/Achievement and Integration Summary Thursday.

Approval came on a motion by board member Jonathon Schiro, seconded by Denny Waloch.

A highlight of the summary was Curriculum/Instruction Coordinator Amanda Thorson explaining that District 88 consistently uses many methods to attract and maintain a high quality and diverse group of teachers that meets the needs of its positions, students and community,

“I’m really proud of this. We’re one of the few districts to meet this goal,” said Thorson.

The school district goal was to access diverse teachers using multiple recruiting and hiring tools including screening applicants with relevant experience serving high free and reduce lunch student populations while hiring highly qualified applicants that best meet the needs of positions, students and community.

The 2024 Minnesota Legislature renamed the World’s Best Work Force (WBWF) to CACR. The new name emphasizes dual roles for district planning goals including supporting preK-12 students with academic achievement in school and preparing them to be active community members after graduation, becoming lifelong learners.

The report summarizes goal progress from the prior year in five goal areas established by the Minnesota Dept. of Education. The goals are that all children are ready for school, all third-graders can read at grade level, all racial and economic achievement gaps between students are closed, all students are ready for career and college and all students graduate from high school.

New Ulm Public Schools established a 2023-24 target goal of 90% of children under age 5 participating in Early Childhood District Screening with monthly screening. As of June 30, 2024, 89.5% of children under age 5 participated in Early Childhood Screening.

A third-grade student goal was to achieve a 10% positive proficiency shift on all levels of the FAST Adaptive Reading test. By spring 2024, the reading test showed a positive 9% net proficiency ship across all levels of proficiency.

A goal of reducing the gap between those receiving free and reduced (F&R) and those that do not by 3% based on 2024 MCA reading scores. In spring 2024, the achievement gap between those that received F&R and those that do not, went from 2.71% to 0.73%, a 1.98% loss in which the achievement gap was reduced.

Freshman and new NUHS students completed a career course and portfolio within the Mn Career Information System. All students entering ninth-grade and all new NUHS students will continue to be required to complete MCIS system requirements. 98.8% of 9th grade students and new, enrolled completed the goal by spring 2024.

New Ulm High School graduated 94.1% of all students in 2023-24, achieving a 93% graduation goal by the district.

K-8 F&R students achieved a 1.5 index score on the FAST A reading test. The achievement goal was a 2.4 index score. A score above 2.0 indicates greater movement across proficiency levels, year to year, based on the MDE academic progress matrix and current proficiency levels.

For the 2023-24 school year, 91% of Dist. 88 students showed, based on survey results, increased awareness and exposure to post-secondary learning and career options after campus visits. The percentage of students who reported their identities were represented in their education experience was a 16% increase. The Dist. 88 integration goal is providing integration exposure to 100% of sixth-grade students and raise awareness of post-secondary options as measured by a survey.

Thorson and high school math teacher Steve Foley presented a probability & statistics resource recommendation to provide high-quality math education that equips students with skills and knowledge necessary for their future success. The recommendation was unanimously approved, motion by Schiro, seconded by Matt Ringhofer.

Foley recommended the book “Elementary Statistics: Picturing the World, 8th edition, because it included “a lot of real world examples and exercises that helps students understand concepts and use statistics to described and think about the world.”

Foley said current District. 88 goals and processes for student outcomes include identifying students not meeting expectations with grade posting every 3 weeks, individual time with teachers, scheduling time with a math interventionist and National Honor Society (NHS) or higher level math students who volunteer as tutors.

New student outcome goals allow students to see how what they are learning can be used in the real world with new online resources, gain immediate feedback with online homework and better differentiated problems to complete, meeting new geometry and Algebra 2 standards and connecting content to tribal nations, financial literacy, computer science, modeling and the real world.

Foley said math teachers work with individual students before and after school they identify as ones who would benefit from one-on-one assistance. Students can also self-identify. The NHS tutoring center is open one hour a day during open lunch.

Students unable to successfully complete a course have the opportunity to take a credit recovery course through Edmentum, a self-paced course that allows them to reach required course standards.