GOAL (NOT MET): All children are ready for kindergarten

• RESULTS: 30 percent of incoming students demonstrated kindergarten readiness in all eight district-established categories.
• EXPLANATION: Last year, 31 percent of students were "ready" in all eight areas, including: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, colors, shapes, number recognition, rote counts and one-to-one correspondence. The biggest struggle for incoming students? Letter sounds. This list is part of a diagnostic tool created by the district, Gibson said.
• WHAT'S NEXT: The district hopes to increase early childhood programming, outreach and family engagement to boost the number ready for kindergarten, Gibson said. RPS may also review what's included in the "Readiness Assessment Tool," Gibson said, considering the addition of measures such as social-emotional readiness that aren't among the eight now evaluated. The goal for fall 2018: 35 percent ready for kindergarten, Gibson said.

GOAL (NOT MET): Third-grade literacy

• RESULTS: About 57 percent of third-graders are proficient, as measured by spring 2017 reading accountability tests; this is a 4 percent drop from last year. The goal was 63 percent.
• EXPLANATION: Discrepancies in subgroups — breakdowns of race, ethnicity, free and reduced price lunch, and special education — show "we have some work to do here, and we recognize that," Gibson said. Literacy is measured by all the proficiency tests that students take at the end of third grade.
• WHAT'S NEXT: The district will continue to train administrators in "literacy leadership," Gibson said, as well as focusing on what is happening in the classroom between students and teachers. "We're going to spend a lot of time drilling in on that," Gibson said. Next year's goal: 62.3 percent of all RPS third graders will be at, or above, grade level proficiency — a 5 percent increase from this year.

GOAL (NOT MET): Close all academic achievement gaps

• RESULTS: Achievement gaps remain, with a greater than 10 percent gap between student groups for math, for all subgroups except Asian students. For reading, Native American students have nearly closed the gap, but gaps for Hispanic and black students remain.
• EXPLANATION: The goal is to have less than a 10 percent difference in math and reading achievement for all groups; subcategories of students include Asian, Black, Hispanic, English language learner, special education and low-income.
• WHAT'S NEXT: The district will focus on professional development with consultants and internal staff, especially with culturally relevant teaching practices, Gibson said. Leadership training in equity and increased engagement opportunities for students, including career and college readiness skills. "Not only do we want to bring these bars more within reason, but we want them to all be shifted up a little bit higher across the board..." Gibson said.

GOAL (NOT MET): Have all high school graduates career and college ready

• RESULTS: About 55 percent of students are ready in math and 56 percent in reading, according to ACT scores.
• EXPLANATION: Results come from high school juniors' ACT scores — an ACT score of 22 indicates the students are "college and career ready." Last year, 88 percent of juniors took the ACT, Gibson said. The goal was to have more than 60 percent of students on track to an ACT score of 22 or higher.
• WHAT'S NEXT: Gibson said the district hopes to get closer to 99 percent of high school juniors taking the assessment for free during the school day. RPS hopes to provide more college credit options for students to take advantage of while in high school. Gibson added that the district hopes to have more conversations with students in "middle-level" programming about college and career readiness. The goal for next year continues to be getting 60 percent of student on track to an ACT score of 22 or higher.

GOAL (NOT MET): Graduate all students from HS

• RESULTS: In 2016, 85 percent of students graduated from high school.
• EXPLANATION: The district wants at least 95 percent of our students to graduate. While the four-year graduation rate is at 85 percent, the district also tracks five- and six-year graduation rates. For the class of 2014, 83 percent graduated in four years, while that number grew to 86 percent in five years, and 88 percent in six years. "We don't pick up leaps and bounds of continuing students, but we do pick up anywhere from 3 to 6 percent of our students," Gibson said, noting they often continue at the district's ALC, or at other program options.
• WHAT'S NEXT: Increased opportunities for students, and the continued training for and use of "culturally relevant teaching strategies," such as AVID, or Achievement Via Individual Determination, a type of support for middle-of-the-road students to hone the skills they'll need after high school.