District reports ninth‑grade credit and lab‑minute progress; 75.1% of cohort on track for science eligibility

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Laura Samolsky Peters reviewed the district’s two high‑school goals and first‑quarter checks for the cohort of students who entered high school in 2024.

On exams, Samolsky Peters said the district’s goal is a modest increase in students passing at least one Regents by the end of their first high‑school year: from 38.5% in August 2024 to 39.5% in August 2025. For lab eligibility, she set an interim benchmark: the percent of cohort 2024 students eligible to sit for a science exam based on lab minutes should increase from ~54% (June 2024) to 60% (June 2025). "After the first quarter, 75.1 percent of the cohort 2024 students are on track with their lab minutes," she said, describing the calculation that a student needs about 300 lab minutes per quarter to meet the 1,200‑minute annual threshold.

On credits, the year‑end aim is that 64% of cohort 2024 students will earn at least 5.5 credits by the end of their first year (up from 59.9% in June 2024). Samolsky Peters noted the district uses quarterly "dipstick" checks; she reported 74.8% of cohort 2024 were passing at least six classes at the end of quarter 1. Board members asked why Q1 rates can already exceed year targets; district leaders explained that the Q1 figure is an early snapshot and cohorts often decline later in the year, so monitoring and early intervention matter.

Samolsky Peters also explained supports for students who fall behind on lab minutes or credits: virtual lab options, after‑school extended learning time (ELT) opportunities, and teacher‑provided makeup assignments available through Schoology. She said the district built a dashboard last year to monitor lab minutes at the district level and that science leadership contacts principals when students fall behind.