Educational leaders, elected officials and community members from across Merced County gathered Wednesday, Jan. 22, for the Merced County Schools Annual Education Report, hosted in-person at the MCOE Downtown Center.
The presentation, led by Merced County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Steve Tietjen, highlighted educational updates for the 2023-24 school year, including graduation rates that are higher than state averages, budget projections, and other insights documented in the report.
In describing local student demographics, Tietjen pointed out that Merced County is unlike its more urban costal neighbors.
“We have a high number of socioeconomically disadvantaged children and families in our community,” he said. “We have a high percentage of English learners, and we have a slightly higher population of students with special needs than the percentage you find in other parts of the state. Our college-going rate is lower than some other parts of California, and so we work closely with our partners at institutes of higher education to reduce the barriers for our students. And I would like to thank our Merced College colleagues, as well as our UC Merced colleagues that are here today.”
Notably, the new report focused in on the role “data-informed decisions” and “improvement science” play in improving student performance, school culture and the educational system as a whole.
Author and improvement science expert Brandon Bennett was the featured speaker at the event. He asked the audience to consider the U.S. transportation system which is heavily focused on highways and cars as opposed to in Europe where passenger rail routes are much more prevalent.
“If I’m in Europe, it’s very natural to just take a train,” Bennett pointed out. “It’s a totally different system. What system have we built? Our highway system. So in this country, roughly the same size as Europe as it extends east, if I want to go somewhere, I’m probably going to take my car, and you are probably the same way.
“The systems we choose to build, the systems we inherit, these are the systems that have profound influences on the outcomes that we experience. And that’s really, really big. In the context of education, we want to look into systems.”
He later added, “If we want different results, we need different designs.”
Bennett showed examples of how data tools can create new insights on systems that can help in areas of concern in education, such as: retention of teachers, providing support for both educators and multilingual learners, reclassification rates, and the effectiveness of academic programs.
In addition to the report, two companion videos were produced by Merced Education Television (METV) highlighting positive data outliers within Merced County.
“We have some incredibly bright spots here in Merced County that really demonstrate how simultaneously focusing on the system and focusing on data that’s generated by the system can help us make changes in student outcomes,” Tietjen explained when introducing the videos.
One of the “positive outliers” identified in the report was in the Winton School District which exceeded expectations by outperforming other districts statewide, despite serving a large low socioeconomic student population.
Students at Frank Sparkes Elementary School received the highest test scores in Merced County in English Language Arts and Mathematics. The district’s emphasis on data analysis enabled the school to identify academic gaps and adjust instruction to meet the diverse needs of all students. The district also continues to celebrate student achievements through award assemblies to establish a culture that values academic success.
In addition to the education report presentation, the MCOE luncheon offered some entertainment for attendees, including a special student performance of “These Palace Walls” and “Omar, Babkak, Aladdin, Kassim” by members of the Weaver School District Performing Arts Program from their production of “Aladdin Jr.”
Kudos also go to the event sponsors: STIFEL, EECU, MSEFCU, Travis Credit Union, and SKW Associates. Members of the Merced City Council and the Merced County Board of Supervisors were in attendance, as well as a long list of local school board trustees, district superintendents, administrators, and teachers.
Digital copies of the 2023-24 Annual Education Report as well as the video presentations are available at mcoe.org/annualreport. To request hard copies of the report for your school or office, contact communications@mcoe.org.