Want to watch a fun video recap of Q1 highlights? Click here. Antwan and NGU sat down with Kayley and Xziavyon from AST for some questions and updates about Q1.
At DSST, we believe the strongest schools aren’t islands. They’re hubs. They are places where we come together along with our families, partners, and community organizations to open doors, and provide students the resources, relationships and opportunities they need to thrive.
DSST’s first-quarter results show encouraging gains in middle school learning and high school college readiness. There are also key areas where we need to strengthen our work as we move into Quarter 2.
Behind these results are the daily efforts of teachers, school leaders and staff across our network. Here’s what the data tells us about our progress.
Middle school students are making gains
At the middle school level, higher percentages of students met benchmarks and growth targets in reading, math and writing compared with last year, according to the first ANet assessment of the year. Writing showed the largest year-over-year gains in both measures. Several schools stand out in their results.
Cedar Middle School led the network in the percentage of students meeting growth targets: 57% in reading and 71% in math. Conservatory Green Middle School recorded the network’s largest year-over-year increases in students meeting reading and math growth targets. At Elevate Middle School, 47% of students with disabilities met their reading growth targets, compared with 44% of students without disabilities.
These early results offer promising examples to learn from as teams plan instruction and support students throughout the year.
High school college readiness is improving
October P/SAT results showed higher percentages of students meeting college-readiness benchmarks in reading and writing and in math compared with last October. Math results improved across all three tested grades, with 11th grade showing the largest improvement in college readiness across both subject areas.
At the school level, Montview High School and Green Valley Ranch High School improved college-readiness results in both reading and writing and math.
These are encouraging early indicators. Continued progress on future assessments will be important to meeting our year-end goals.
Turning priorities into progress
At the end of Q1, staff retention remained on track at 97.6%, and 100% of active staff had completed beginning-of-year conversations. Those results reflect the power of clear expectations, meaningful feedback and a shared commitment to showing up for one another.
The network also met its 93.8% Q1 student persistence target, which tracks students continuing at DSST. Every student who stays connected represents a relationship strengthened and an opportunity kept open, and sustaining those connections will take all of us.
Quarter 1 also made clear where our collective focus must deepen. Only four of 16 schools met Q1 attendance goals. Science forecasts remain below our targets, and significant academic gaps persist for multilingual learners and students with disabilities. These challenges are a call to action: to learn from what is working, rally around every student and turn urgency into progress.
All In Together: Where we go next
In Quarter 2, we will move forward All In Together — strengthening writing routines, using assessment data more consistently to guide instruction and sharpening targeted support for students. We will deepen attendance outreach and family partnerships so every student feels known, supported and inspired to keep learning.
Thank you to the teachers, leaders and staff whose commitment makes this progress possible. Q1 gives us successes to celebrate, lessons to carry forward and a shared responsibility to act. When we bring our strengths, ideas and determination together, we can meet these priorities and open more doors for every student. We are All In Together, and together, we will help every student thrive.