US/Global 
CAN
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Evidence of Excellence
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Evidence of Excellence
San Cayetano Elementary School
Fillmore, California
DEMOGRAPHICS
Serving kindergarten through fifth-grade students in Fillmore, California, San Cayetano Elementary School operates within the Fillmore Unified School District. According to the school’s website, their vision is that the practices and programs of San Cayetano Elementary reflect their commitment to helping all students learn at high levels.
- 490 students
- 80% free or reduced lunch
- 35% English learners
- 23% students with special needs
San Cayetano Elementary School's Challenge
Before partnering with Solution Tree, San Cayetano Elementary School faced deep-rooted challenges that hindered student progress. Principal Krystal Sarabia-Rocha described a culture of isolation among educators, where grade-level meetings focused more on logistics and extracurriculars than on meaningful conversations about teaching and learning. Although the school was rich in data, there was little clarity on how to use it to inform instruction. Data collection often felt like a compliance task rather than a tool for improvement.
Another significant obstacle was identifying and supporting students who needed reading intervention. With over half of the student population falling below grade level, staff struggled to allocate resources effectively. The broad identification criteria made it difficult to prioritize and differentiate support.
Recognizing that these issues couldn’t be solved through surface-level fixes, Principal Sarabia-Rocha and her team actively sought a path forward. They understood that true improvement would require a fundamental cultural shift—one rooted in collaboration, clarity, and collective responsibility.
“The journey wasn't without its initial bumps. Change can be challenging, but the power of seeing results firsthand is undeniable. When a long-serving teacher expressed, 'We’re tired of running in circles ... this works,' it resonated deeply. It marked a pivotal moment where the entire San Cayetano community united around a singular, powerful goal: ensuring high levels of learning for all our children.”
IMPLEMENTATION
Driven by a desire for meaningful change, San Cayetano Elementary School embarked on a transformative journey in the summer of 2022 by attending the Sacramento Professional Learning Communities (PLC) at Work® Institute. The school’s involvement was part of a broader district initiative to implement the PLC at Work process, and Principal Sarabia-Rocha and her team eagerly opted in, recognizing the urgent need to improve student learning outcomes.
Upon returning in the 2022–2023 school year, San Cayetano received monthly on-site dedicated coaching from PLC at Work associates Aisha Thomas and Jon Yost, ensuring consistent support. This close coaching fostered trust and guided the staff through the initial stages of PLC implementation.
As the work deepened in the 2023–2024 school year, San Cayetano also benefited from content-specific coaching while the district participated in focused professional development days led by PLC at Work associates Luis F. Cruz and Anthony Muhammad.
The San Cayetano team embraced structured support, beginning with clarifying essential standards, writing and administering common formative assessments (CFAs), and introducing a schoolwide WIN (What I Need) intervention time.
Transparency around data and collaboration became nonnegotiable. To effectively track student progress, the school collaboratively developed a schoolwide template for monitoring CFA proficiency, ensuring a consistent approach to data collection and analysis. Those shared data sheets allowed every teacher to see progress across grade levels, which fostered vertical alignment and collective responsibility.
RESULTS
By the end of the second year of their PLC journey, San Cayetano Elementary began to witness significant positive shifts.
- Fourth-grade ELA scores increased by 10%, and math scores rose by 11%.
- Third-grade math scores saw an impressive 16% growth on state assessments.
- The school also saw a 5% increase in both ELA and math proficiency for their English Learner population and a remarkable 14.7% growth in math for students with disabilities.
This data, achieved within a relatively short timeframe, underscored the power of collaborative practices, targeted interventions facilitated by “WIN Time,” and a clear focus on essential standards.
The transformation extended beyond academics, fostering a renewed sense of purpose and collaboration among the staff, who now operate with a shared understanding of student data and a commitment to continuous improvement.
In 2024, Solution Tree awarded San Cayetano Elementary School the distinction of Promising Practices School for their dedication to implementing the PLC at Work process.
See more results from CAASPP:
ELA: The percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards has increased steadily from 16.26% in the 2022-2023 school year to 21.54% in the 2023-2024 school year.
Math: Remarkable improvements were made in students meeting or exceeding standards—from 9.36% (2022-23 school year) to 20.10% (2023-24 school year) more than doubling the previous year's percentage.
Students Meeting or Exceeding Standards
WHY PLC AT WORK®?
Professional learning communities (PLCs) are schools that empower educators to work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve.
