Fresno Unified’s test scores are climbing, but not fast enough. The district has seen steady growth in state testing for English language arts and math since 2022. With classes back in session, Fresno Unified opened the first board meeting of the 2026-27 school year outlining their plans for the next five years and the district’s progress since 2022 in state test scores.

Progress and Challenges

Two years ago, the district and its board adopted its goals and guardrails, objectives for student performance and guidelines the district will follow through 2030. FUSD Superintendent Misty Her gave a presentation detailing how the district will invest toward those goals. Her presented data showing the district’s steady growth in state testing for English language arts and math since 2022, including preliminary data showing improvements to both categories in last year’s assessments.

However, the district data from Wednesday’s meeting showed a sharp decrease in SBAC proficiency among students with disabilities between 2025 and 2026. English language arts proficiency rates dropped by 5.5% to 10.5%, with math rates dropping 4.9% to 9.1%. Trustee Susan Wittrup underscored the need to improve the district’s special education capabilities, like adding more certified educators to serve a population of students that is expected to grow.

The incoming school year will also see the implementation of weekly meetings between departments and supervisors for the purposes of reviewing school data and planning out their efforts to reach annual targets established by the goals and guardrails. Additionally, Her said that the district will also begin to have quarterly sessions where leaders from each district school site and their respective supervisors meet to review progress and data related to the district’s objectives and to share best practices with each other.

Original reporting: Fresnoland — read the source article.