District staff presented the recent Alabama state report card and said Limestone County Schools improved overall while flagging EL proficiency as a priority for the coming year.

Allison, the district presenter, explained how the state report card is calculated and told the board the district’s overall score rose by two points. "Nearly every school you will see we're in the top 25% of growth in our state," she said, and she highlighted East Limestone High School as the district’s first high school to receive an A on the report card. Allison noted academic achievement and academic growth are weighted differently depending on school grade spans and described how chronic absenteeism and college‑and‑career readiness indicators factor into scores.

The presentation broke down school‑level results: several high schools and elementary schools posted substantive gains in academic growth and lowered chronic absenteeism; Clements High School moved off an ATSI designation for students with disabilities to a lower identification category, and Creekside Primary’s reductions in chronic absenteeism were singled out. Allison said the district’s academic growth placed many schools in the top quartile statewide.

At the same time, Allison told trustees EL proficiency across the district remains below the 58% benchmark the state uses to award full points. "This is gonna be an area of focus for me and my department," she said, noting federal and state reporting count EL students differently and that Alabama Connections (the district’s virtual program) affected district totals. She also said EL teachers often carry caseloads of "70 to 80," which the district will examine as part of improvement planning.

Board members asked clarifying questions about subgroup counts, how the federal report card differs from the state report card, and the state rules that govern which students are included. Allison said the federal report card counts EL students who have been in U.S. schools three or more years, while the state excludes some EL students in the academic portion if they have been in Alabama schools fewer than six years. She described plans to convene an EL testing team and to contact districts with stronger EL results for peer learning.

The board did not take formal action on the report card at the meeting; staff said follow‑up work and targeted supports will be pursued in the coming months.