New California School Dashboard charts performance of NUSD and other districts and schools

Natomas Parents, Guardians and Stakeholders:

California’s newly released School Dashboard gave Natomas Unified high marks today for its graduation rate and confirmed our need to continue implementing an aligned instructional system as we prepare students for the challenges of tomorrow.

Our achievement results from last school year are above average in comparison to other urban districts, and we made bigger impacts for students in Math than in English.  We targeted professional development in Math, adopted textbooks early, and provided additional supports to our classrooms.  We are taking similar actions for Elementary English/Language Arts in 2017-2018. 

Using data to improve student success is important, and the new dashboard will supplement our existing District Progress Report and data warehouse to improve student achievement and readiness for college and career.

Natomas Unified received the state Dashboard’s second-highest rating in graduation rates. Our graduation rate is 10 percent higher than California’s and, for African American students, our district’s graduation rate is 20 percent higher than the state.  

Here are all of NUSD’s scores on the new report card that rates each on a five point scale from highest to lowest performance (blue, green, orange, yellow, red).

NUSD stands to rate highly on college eligibility – or a-g rate — in the new accountability tool, although this metric was not included in the initial rollout because the state School Dashboard will not be fully implemented until 2017-18. Our college eligibility rate is Sacramento County’s second highest overall – and highest for African American, Hispanic and White students.

The dashboard affirms our need to continuously improve student achievement in Math and English Language Arts for all students. In 2016 we purchased new textbooks for Math K-12, implemented new English/Language Arts textbooks for secondary schools, and will soon be using new English textbooks in Elementary schools. NUSD also is providing professional development to complement the new state standards reflected in those books. These are all steps in the right direction.

We look forward to using performance data to continue our conversation with the community about how we’re doing and how we can do better.

To see the results, go here.  To learn more about the new California School Dashboard, visit the California Department of Education (CDE) here or watch this video.  If you have any questions, speak with your school principal.