A Fresno father helps prep his soon-to-be third grader for football.
He's glad to hear more that more students are graduating in the Fresno Unified District. The district expects new numbers to be even better.
"We are projecting that we will have gone from about 74.6 into the mid 75 percent range. That again is a big deal for us to continue to see that," said Fresno Unified Superintendent, Michael Hanson.
They know to reach that goal you have to start young. So, they're expanding early learning programs -that means an additional 1,500 spots for preschoolers.
2013 STAR testing results were just released and there were some encouraging signs. English and math scores are down slightly, but show a significant gain when viewed in a five year trend. Local parents want an even playing field.
"Just to make sure that we're up to par with other schools and other states. It's important to me that my kids do well," said a parent with two kids enrolled in the district, Bonnie Ramirez.
A new curriculum called "Common Core" was adopted by the state and the district. It places an emphasis on english and math skills. The district says it will work with teachers to implement the new education strategy
"We are doing everything we can to create space for our teachers and our principals to learn deeply what that new content needs to be so that our kids can learn it most effectively," said Hanson.