Fresno Unified board to next superintendent: Deliver big changes or ‘we don’t want you here’
Fresno Unified’s school board has huge expectations for its next full-time superintendent, who will be charged with nearly doubling the district’s early literacy rates.
The ambitious five-year goals approved by the school board Wednesday would require vast improvements in academic achievement for a district that has historically struggled to sustain its students’ gains.
Board trustees said it was important to agree on what they expect of Fresno Unified’s next leader before making an expected hire this spring.
“We’ll be able to tell the superintendent coming in, ‘This is what our community expects of us, so if it’s not something you can deliver, then we don’t want you here.’ It focuses us to get the right person for the job,” said school board President Valerie Davis.
Davis said the district came up with its new student achievement goals with input from parents and community members during several public forums held last year.
The four goals focus on early literacy, raising test scores in the state’s standardized exams for underperforming students, and improving career and college readiness in high school.
Fresno Unified aims make major improvements by 2030 in the following areas:
Increasing the rate of first-graders proficient in literacy from 48%, as of June 2024, to 80%.
Growing the number of elementary and middle-school students with underachieving reading test scores who demonstrate more than one year’s growth in standardized testing.
Raising the percentage of students graduating from high school who are considered “college and career ready,” from 43% to 64%.
The district will use results from the iReady reading exams students take three times a year to pinpoint their improvement and measure first-grade literacy rates. District data show that the percentage of first-graders who were at or above their grade level on iReady English proficiency tests has risen from 36.7% to 48.1% over the past three school years.
For students who are behind academically in elementary and middle school, the second goal aims to help them catch up and meet grade-level standards. The newly released 2023-24 state test results show that 34.72% of students met or exceeded the standards for English language arts. Carlos Castillo, Fresno Unified’s chief of diversity, equity and inclusion, said the district is analyzing test results and will update the percentile for that goal.
“I’m very excited that our district now has first-ever goals,” said Interim Superintendent Misty Her. “We are a district that does a lot of things, so we had to make a decision and identify things we’re going to focus on.”
Last summer, Her set two goals when she was named interim superintendent: “achieving double-digit student outcomes” and “excellence in customer services.” In the meanwhile, the school board held community hearings and developed its new goals with coaching from its $100,000 contracted consultant, Council of the Great City Schools.
Her said the district will stay on the two goals for the rest of the semester while familiarizing themselves with the board’s new goals.
Davis said the board is on track to hire a superintendent by the end of the school year.
The next step will be hiring a search firm, according to the board’s search timeline. Davis said the board has formed a subcommittee and narrowed down three search firmsand the full board will make a decision in February.
This story was originally published January 24, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
