Moreno Valley, Calif. - The Moreno Valley Unified School District was recently recognized by the Riverside County Office of Education at its annual State of Education today for its progress in academic achievement, resulting in exiting the differentiated assistance program.
The differentiated assistance program was established by the state in 2017 to identify school districts where county superintendents must provide differentiated “technical assistance” to districts that have not improved student group performance within two or more of the eight LCFF state priorities.
California’s accountability and continuous improvement system is based on a three-tiered framework, with the first tier made up of resources and assistance that is made available to all local educational agencies. Differentiated assistance is the second tier of assistance that one or more agencies are required by statute to provide to local educational agencies or schools that meet certain eligibility criteria.
The Moreno Valley Unified School District was identified for differentiated assistance in 2017, but recently exited the program due to student achievement and progress.
The following six student groups were identified as areas of support upon the return from COVID-19 closures:
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Foster Youth
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Homeless
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English Learners
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African American
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Pacific Islanders
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Students with Disabilities
“This is truly exciting for our district,” said School Board President Brandy Clark upon hearing the news. “This change in status marks a positive step forward, narrowing the achievement gap.”
The state measured a district’s progress via the California Dashboard, which is updated every fall based on the most recent year of data available. Improving the performance of the student groups that met the criteria would result in the student group no longer meeting the criteria and the school district no longer being eligible for differentiated assistance, which is the case for Moreno Valley Unified.
Chief Academic Officer Dr. Esperanza Arce was ecstatic to make the first big announcement of the news at the district’s annual State of the District held on Jan. 18 with Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edwin Gomez.
“The hard work and determination paid off,” said Arce. “Our students were able to break through the toughest barriers in spite of being closed for about a year and a half. The pandemic could not stop our kids, could not stop our teachers, our classified staff, our administrators. You deserve a round of applause!”
The Moreno Valley Unified School District will continue to work on student academic achievement with the support of staff, families and community partners.
“We reached a huge milestone for our district,” said Interim Superintendent Dr. Robert Verdi. “We are so proud of the work everyone has done, but especially, our students. Our students persevered and shall continue to achieve even more with the help of our entire district working together along their side.”
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