How a Nevada Charter School Significantly Improved Students’ ELA Test Scores

April 14, 2026

Delta Academy, a fully accredited public charter school for grades 6–12 in North Las Vegas, empowers students to rediscover their strengths and achieve success.

Since 2006, the school has provided a second chance to young people who were bullied, who developed school phobia, or who struggled with emotional, behavioral, or learning challenges, often while navigating poverty, unstable housing, or family crises.

“There are times that kids don’t know where they’re going to get their food from,” said Austin Congleton, Delta’s middle school principal. “The only place that they eat is when they’re here.”

The school provides a free, healthy breakfast prepared in-house; partners with community organizations like Project 150 that supply students with food, clothing, and school materials; and employs three onsite social workers. Its blended model includes 300 students attending in person and nearly 1,000 enrolled in an online program supported by seven student success advocates who serve as mentors.

Congleton said the school is intentional about building relationships not only with students on campus but also with those enrolled online, who make up a significant portion of Delta’s population. He said it’s important for online students to feel connected to the school community. Through mentorship and consistent outreach, students receive hands-on support from trusted adults, which helps them feel a sense of belonging.

But even with a deep commitment to students, Delta faced a challenge that threatened its very existence.

When Growth Meant Survival

As a Nevada charter school, Delta operates under strict accountability guidelines. Three consecutive years with a 1-star rating could result in closure.

“Three strikes and you’re out,” Congleton said. “If we didn’t show improvement in growth, we had the potential that Delta wouldn’t be here.”

Delta’s English language arts (ELA) proficiency scores had fallen. Despite strong gains in graduation rates and extensive student supports, academic growth in ELA was not keeping pace.

Congleton said that while many students arrive academically behind, Delta is not serving only students who struggle, so the consistently low ELA performance signaled that something in the system needed to change.

It turned out that the answer was hiding in plain sight.

The Writing Problem No One Saw

Susan Levenson, a program manager at WestEd, said writing performance tasks reintroduced over the past decade on summative assessments across multiple states account for 28–30 percent of ELA proficiency scores.

She said that when students receive low ELA scores, they aren’t failing to read. They’re failing to respond, often writing off genre, writing off topic, or leaving essay-style questions blank. Because the scoring is AI based, these responses, or lack thereof, automatically receive a 0, with no partial credit.

At Delta, the data told a similar story.

Delta’s disaggregated assessment data revealed that writing performance tasks were significantly dragging down their overall ELA scores.

Congleton said Delta has partnered with WestEd for nearly 9 years, dating back to his time as a classroom science teacher. Over that time, Levenson and her team have provided coaching, instructional support, and systems-level guidance to help strengthen teaching and learning across the school.

So, when Levenson approached Congleton with Delta’s disaggregated assessment data and a new strategy focused on assessment literacy and writing performance tasks to improve ELA scores, Congleton said he knew something had to change, and it included working with their online student population.

“One thing that the [online] structure has been missing is having a formative assessment that can go online that matches what state assessments are looking for so that our kids feel confident, comfortable, and prepared to go into these tests,” Congleton said.

Building a Culture of Instructional Consistency

The Formative Writing Framework, developed by WestEd, begins with a needs assessment to identify a school site’s strengths, challenges, resources, and goals. Teachers are then supported with adaptable resources, Framework coaching, lesson planning, and an AI scoring tool to supplement and strengthen existing curricula, as needed, to prepare students to be strong writers and build instructional consistency.

For Congleton, adopting the Framework schoolwide was a strategic decision rooted in data, urgency, and trust. “Our scores in our ELA prior to last school year were very low, under 20%,” he said.

Congleton said he already knew the systems WestEd had in place and that they worked, and he believed that if the school could scale the Framework schoolwide and have everyone on the same page, it was only a matter of time before the data followed.

Adopting the framework meant more than introducing new tools; it required a shift in school culture.

Congleton said the greatest challenge in leading instructional change is not with students but with adults adjusting their practice. While the transition required effort and brought inevitable growing pains, he said it felt collaborative rather than punitive, with staff working together to drive improvement.

As part of the Framework, teachers were asked to use the same rubrics, and writing instruction extended beyond ELA into history and science. Students completed writing tasks throughout the year, using formative assessments that mirrored Nevada’s summative assessment.

Congleton said SAgrader, an AI-based scoring platform recommended by WestEd, helped staff predict how students were likely to perform on the state exams while providing students with consistent feedback aligned with the state’s scoring criteria.

During monthly professional learning community meetings, staff analyzed data together and began to see measurable gains.

“No one wants to be left in the dark,” Congleton said. “So that is the big thing that I think really helps, is the data piece, and consistently making sure that they [staff] know every first Wednesday of every month, this is what we’re going to talk about: Did this work? Do we need to change strategies? What’s working best? What can we all do to make it so that our students are successful?”

Historically Unprecedented Growth

After 1 year of implementing the Formative Writing Framework, middle grade ELA scores increased from 16.8 percent to 35.5 percent—an 18.7-point gain. High school ELA scores rose from 21.3 percent to 33.5 percent—a 12.2-point increase. These gains are the largest single-year improvements in the school’s history.

Double-digit gains are rare in education. For Delta’s staff, the growth validated the effort.

“The morale of the entire staff is boosted,” Congleton said. “They’re like, ‘Yes, it’s working!’”

As students monitored their practice scores, they began to see tangible growth, which boosted their confidence, especially for those who had experienced repeated academic setbacks.

Congleton said that when students who face significant challenges begin to see even small gains, they build momentum quickly, and with consistent encouragement and evidence of progress, they often exceed expectations.

Last year, the school earned its highest star rating to date and secured charter renewal without further concern.

Advice for Leaders

Delta Academy continues to build on its gains, extending the Formative Writing Framework into additional subject areas and refining how staff use data to guide instruction.

Congleton believes the lesson for other school leaders is clear.

“You’ve got to believe in what you’re doing,” he said, adding that as a leader, “you’re meant to be the light for your staff, especially when you’re doing something that’s hard.”

Beyond instructional shifts, Congleton builds energy around testing season with strategic celebrations tied to learning milestones; schoolwide pep talks; and short, targeted videos designed to boost students’ confidence before the summative assessment and reinforce that their hard work matters.

“As the leader, be the face, don’t sit in your office all day,” Congleton said. “Let the kids see you, let the staff see you—make time for the kids because that’s what we got into the business for.”

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