photo by: Journal-World

The Lawrence school board will meet on Monday at the school district offices, 110 McDonald Dr.

Next week, the Lawrence school board is set to learn more about the information each building — and the school district as a whole — must gather and review regarding students’ performance on state assessments.

At Monday’s school board meeting, the group will hear a presentation on the district’s “Building Needs Assessment” and “State Assessment Review.” State law requires school districts to publish those reports for each school on the district website and answer three questions:

• What barriers must be overcome to have all students achieve proficiency above level 2 for grade-level academic expectations on the state assessment?

• What budget actions — including recommendations on the reallocation of resources — should be taken to address and remove those identified barriers?

• What amount of time does the school board estimate it will take for all students to achieve proficiency above level 2 for grade-level academic expectations on the state assessment if such budget actions are implemented?

The needs assessment for each school must be used by the school board when approving the district’s annual budget. Once complete, each building needs assessment will include demographic data outlining the percentage of students achieving those proficiency goals by grade level, race and more. They’ll also include sections on student success — like their graduation, attendance and post-secondary success rates — and behavior.

Each building is also asked to write two to three “building goals” to be achieved within the next three years at most. According to a presentation with Monday’s agenda, the next milestone in the process of completing the assessments falls on Aug. 1, when building goals are due. A couple weeks later, the school board will receive a presentation on the budget for next year.

Also included in Monday’s presentation is a look at the district’s preliminary Kansas Assessment Program results. One slide highlights that nearly 70% of students scored at level 2 or above in English language arts and math. Other slides break each subject down by “subgroup,” including race and gender.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at district headquarters, 110 McDonald Drive. The meeting is also available online via the school district’s YouTube channel. Residents who wish to share comments with the board may sign up in advance by emailing PublicComment@usd497.org by 6 p.m. Monday and may participate in person or via Webex video/phone conferencing.

The board’s agenda packet is available on the district’s website.