![\"Park](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ParkCitySchoolDistrictOffice-1200x675.jpg\")
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Park City School District office. Photo: TownLift \/\/ Rayne Moynahan<\/p>\n
PARK CITY, Utah \u2014 Officials from the Park City School District recently reviewed progress on the district\u2019s five-year strategic plan, highlighting improvements in early literacy and high school graduation rates, while also identifying challenges in multilingual learning and eighth-grade math.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Lyndsay Huntsman reported that the district is currently in year three of its 2023\u20132028 plan, which sets five primary goals: increasing English proficiency among multilingual learners, improving third-grade reading and eighth-grade math proficiency, raising the percentage of juniors meeting ACT college readiness benchmarks, and maintaining a 100% graduation rate.<\/p>\n
Huntsman emphasized that multilingual learners are the district\u2019s most urgent focus. Last year, 17% of multilingual learners exited English services based on the state\u2019s WIDA assessment, and 48% met their adequate yearly progress goals. \u201cFrom my perspective, it\u2019s educational malpractice when we have students who start with us in preschool and still have not exited the program,\u201d she stated. The district will shift its 2028 target from 80% exiting to 80% making annual progress, with particular emphasis on fourth and fifth grades.<\/p>\n
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Principals have been instructed to identify every multilingual learner in their schools, and teachers are expected to adopt practices that enhance oral language, writing, and academic vocabulary. Furthermore, all teachers are required to earn an ESL endorsement within their first three years in the district.<\/p>\n
Board members also discussed ways to improve integration between English learners and native speakers beyond the classroom. Huntsman noted that many Latino students participate in extracurricular activities, and the district is expanding outreach to families, including meetings with school leaders.<\/p>\n
In terms of third-grade reading, the district saw continued improvement, with 87% of third graders meeting or exceeding the benchmark last year, up from 84% the previous year and significantly above the state\u2019s figure of 69%. Huntsman attributed this success to the implementation of the 95% Group phonics program in grades K\u20133 and teacher training focusing on the \u201cscience of reading,\u201d in line with the statewide emphasis under Senate Bill 127 (2022). The district has also begun rolling out the Arts & Letters program for grades four through eight, supported by recent professional development.<\/p>\n
Eighth-grade math proficiency improved from 52% to 60%, with the district aiming for a goal of 90%. Huntsman acknowledged this as an ambitious target and noted that the near-term focus will be on continued growth. She added that state math standards are currently under review, with potential updates expected in January, which may necessitate curriculum changes.<\/p>\n
Regarding college readiness, 85% of Park City High School juniors met the ACT English benchmark score of 18. The district reported a 97% four-year graduation rate for the Class of 2024, which is significantly higher than the state average of 89%.<\/p>\n
Huntsman affirmed that the administration will continue to refine targets to reflect realistic growth while aligning with state expectations. \u201cOur teachers are doing phenomenal work,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want our goals to mirror that success.\u201dPARK CITY, Utah\u00a0\u2014 Park City School District officials reviewed progress on the district\u2019s five-year strategic plan this week, highlighting gains in early literacy and high school graduation while identifying challenges in multilingual learning and eighth-grade math.<\/p>\n
Superintendent\u00a0Lyndsay Huntsman\u00a0said the district is in\u00a0year three\u00a0of its\u00a02023\u20132028\u00a0plan, which sets five goals: increasing English proficiency among multilingual learners, improving third-grade reading and eighth-grade math proficiency, raising the share of juniors meeting ACT college readiness benchmarks, and maintaining a 100% graduation rate.<\/p>\n
Huntsman said multilingual learners remain the district\u2019s most urgent focus. Last year,\u00a017%\u00a0of MLL students exited English services under the state\u2019s\u00a0WIDA\u00a0assessment, and\u00a048%\u00a0met their adequate yearly progress goals. \u201cFrom my perspective, it\u2019s\u00a0education malpractice\u00a0when we have students who start with us in preschool and still have not been exited,\u201d Huntsman said. She said the district will shift its 2028 target from\u00a080% exiting\u00a0to\u00a080% progressing\u00a0annually, with an emphasis on fourth and fifth grade.<\/p>\n
Principals have been directed to identify every MLL student in their buildings, and teachers are expected to embed practices that increase oral language, writing, and academic vocabulary. All teachers are required to earn an\u00a0ESL endorsement\u00a0within their first three years in the district.
Board members discussed improving integration between English learners and native speakers beyond the classroom. Huntsman noted that many Latino students participate in extracurricular activities and said the district is expanding outreach to families, including meetings with school leaders.<\/p>\n
Third-grade reading continued to improve. Districtwide,\u00a087%\u00a0of third graders met or exceeded benchmark last year, up from\u00a084%\u00a0the year prior and above the\u00a0state\u2019s 69%\u00a0figure, according to the district. Huntsman cited implementation of the\u00a095% Group\u00a0phonics program in K\u20133 and teacher training in the \u201cscience of reading,\u201d a statewide emphasis under\u00a0Senate Bill 127\u00a0(2022). Grades four through eight began rolling out\u00a0Arts & Letters\u00a0with recent professional development.<\/p>\n
Eighth-grade math proficiency rose from\u00a052%\u00a0to\u00a060%. The district\u2019s goal is\u00a090%. \u201cIt is an audacious goal,\u201d Huntsman said, adding that the near-term focus is on continued growth. She noted state\u00a0math standards are under review, with potential adoption expected\u00a0in January, which could prompt curriculum updates.<\/p>\n
On college readiness,\u00a085%\u00a0of Park City High School juniors met the\u00a0ACT English\u00a0benchmark score of\u00a018. The district reported a\u00a097%\u00a0four-year graduation rate for the\u00a0Class of 2024, compared with the\u00a0state\u2019s 89%.<\/p>\n
Huntsman said the administration will keep refining targets to reflect realistic growth while aligning with state expectations. \u201cOur teachers are doing phenomenal work,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want our goals to mirror what\u2019s happening in classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar Reads On TownLift<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Park City School District office. Photo: TownLift \/\/ Rayne Moynahan PARK CITY, Utah \u2014 Officials from the Park…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-6240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}