Fresno Unified rolls out student-level literacy tracking dashboard after 70% of kindergarteners hit grade-level benchmark

Fresno Unified will launch a student-by-student literacy tracking dashboard in September 2026, Superintendent Misty Her told the governing board this month, following a school year in which 70% of kindergarteners met grade-level foundational literacy standards — exceeding the district’s 62.5% target.

The dashboard will allow teachers, tutors, and after-school staff to see which specific sounds, letters, or high-frequency words each child has not yet mastered. The system is designed to keep all educators working with the same child on the same page, Her said, so a tutor can continue practicing exactly what the classroom teacher identified as a gap.

Her assumed the district leadership role in April 2025 with a governing-board-approved five-year plan to raise early literacy and the percentage of college- and career-ready graduates by June 2030. She spent the 2025-26 school year co-teaching in a first-grade classroom two hours every week to identify what resources teachers and students actually needed.

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In that classroom, 20 of 24 students started the year below grade level. One student went from knowing four words to mastering 144 by year’s end, Her reported to the board last week.

The district will scale the models proven effective in that pilot classroom to all schools. Her described the process as diagnose where a student is struggling, teach the student how to do the task, have the student practice it independently, then assess whether they are ready to move on.

Schools will report to the superintendent weekly on certain initiatives and update data on the portal quarterly. Her will present to the governing board twice a month and publish an annual public report so the community can track progress toward the five-year goal.

“When I say report out, I’m not saying randomly talking about how many kids at your school are not making it,” Her said. “It’s how many by the number, whose classrooms are they in, and what are you doing for these kids, and why they’re improving or why they’re not improving.”

The Breakdown

• The dashboard launching in September 2026 will track each student’s specific literacy gaps — which sounds, letters, or high-frequency words they have not yet mastered — so all educators working with that child can see the same data.
• The 70% kindergarten foundational literacy rate in 2025-26 exceeded the district’s 62.5% target for that year, part of a five-year plan running through June 2030.
• Schools report to the superintendent weekly on certain initiatives and update portal data quarterly. The superintendent presents to the governing board twice a month and publishes an annual public report.
• Her recommended parents ask four questions at teacher meetings: Does my child know how to read (or have the foundational skills to read)? How far below grade level is my child? What are you doing to get my child caught up? What are you doing to prepare my child to be college-ready, career-ready, or both?

What This Means for You

Fresno Unified’s governing board — a body you elect — approved this five-year literacy plan and the accountability structure Her is now implementing. The governing board will receive updates twice a month on the district’s progress toward its literacy goals.

What You Can Do

The governing board meets twice a month to receive updates on this plan. Her stated that the district will publish an annual public report tracking progress toward the five-year goal. Parents can use the four questions Her recommended — particularly “How far below is my child, and what are you going to do to get my child caught up?” — at teacher meetings to get specific data rather than summary assurances.

What to Watch

The 70% kindergarten foundational literacy rate is a first-year benchmark, not a final outcome. The twice-monthly board presentations and quarterly portal updates create a paper trail of the district’s reported progress.