Cajon Valley Middle students present "day in the life" video as school reports gains in literacy
November 30, 2025 | Cajon Valley Union, School Districts, California
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Cajon Valley Middle School students showed a student-produced “day in the life” video at the Cajon Valley School District board meeting and staff used the presentation to underline schoolwide literacy efforts and student progress.
Principal Mr. Geck introduced the video and described the presentation as fully student-driven. He told the board the school has focused on vocabulary, data-driven instruction, and teacher professional learning communities. “So our focus that our leadership team has come up with to focus on literacy this year is all students at CVMS will be equipped with the foundational word recognition skills and language comprehension abilities they need to become fluent, capable readers with rich vocabularies,” he said.
Students and staff cited recent measures of academic growth. The principal reported that 50% of students are on track to meet typical growth for the 24-25 school year, and noted increases for English learners and students with disabilities relative to last year. Staff also reported reclassification of 37 English learners to fluent English proficient and a 3.2% drop in chronic absenteeism and a 5.1% drop in suspensions compared with the prior year.
Student participants described the experience of producing the video and what the school means to them. Elijah Davis, who directed and edited the video, said it was “a great learning experience” and thanked staff for the opportunity. Student Samsore Ofa shared a personal account of arriving from Afghanistan with limited English and credited the school’s newcomer and tutoring supports for enabling academic progress.
District leaders described a broad set of instructional practices supporting those results, including dedicated staff time for literacy PLCs, training in SPIRE and Orton-Gillingham approaches, 1-to-1 coaching cycles, and learning walk cycles for administrators.
Board members praised the student work and the staff supports the presentation highlighted. The presentation concluded with trustees and staff recognizing teachers and students nominated for awards.
The district said it will continue to monitor outcomes and report back; no formal board action was required for the presentation.
Principal Mr. Geck introduced the video and described the presentation as fully student-driven. He told the board the school has focused on vocabulary, data-driven instruction, and teacher professional learning communities. “So our focus that our leadership team has come up with to focus on literacy this year is all students at CVMS will be equipped with the foundational word recognition skills and language comprehension abilities they need to become fluent, capable readers with rich vocabularies,” he said.
Students and staff cited recent measures of academic growth. The principal reported that 50% of students are on track to meet typical growth for the 24-25 school year, and noted increases for English learners and students with disabilities relative to last year. Staff also reported reclassification of 37 English learners to fluent English proficient and a 3.2% drop in chronic absenteeism and a 5.1% drop in suspensions compared with the prior year.
Student participants described the experience of producing the video and what the school means to them. Elijah Davis, who directed and edited the video, said it was “a great learning experience” and thanked staff for the opportunity. Student Samsore Ofa shared a personal account of arriving from Afghanistan with limited English and credited the school’s newcomer and tutoring supports for enabling academic progress.
District leaders described a broad set of instructional practices supporting those results, including dedicated staff time for literacy PLCs, training in SPIRE and Orton-Gillingham approaches, 1-to-1 coaching cycles, and learning walk cycles for administrators.
Board members praised the student work and the staff supports the presentation highlighted. The presentation concluded with trustees and staff recognizing teachers and students nominated for awards.
The district said it will continue to monitor outcomes and report back; no formal board action was required for the presentation.
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