Evidence-Based Leadership. Measurable Achievement.

Proven Results

District leaders do not need another list of promises. They need to know what moved, and what evidence supports the result. The school results below are drawn from official California assessment and accountability records, presented with their sources, their measures, and their limits stated plainly. GDS Consulting, led by Founder & Principal Consultant Gary D. Soto, has carried this work into multiple school districts across the country; these named cases show what the framework looks like when it lands.

Official state results · Patterson, California

Patterson High School — official CAASPP gains

Patterson leads this page because its endpoint values are official California assessment records, not projections. Between the 2022-23 and 2024-25 school years, the share of All Students meeting or exceeding standard rose in English language arts from 51.87% to 62.50% (+10.63 percentage points) and in mathematics from 14.50% to 26.89% (+12.39 points).^[1] Both subjects improved by more than the statewide change over the same window, and ELA also finished above the state grade-11 level.^[1]

Behind the numbers: GDS’s district work, led by Gary D. Soto, included leadership academies, principal coaching, and a sharper expectation that leaders verify whether students mastered the success criteria, rather than stopping at posted intentions.

Data as of: 2024-25 school year (official 2025 CAASPP results) · tap or click the chart to view it full size

The figures show change during the GDS engagement window; they do not establish that consulting alone caused the gains. Patterson mathematics remained below the state grade-11 level in 2024-25 — the claim is growth, not comparative level.^[1]

Flagship engagement · Coachella Valley Unified School District, California

Coachella Valley USD — districtwide coaching, school-level movement

Coachella Valley Unified is GDS’s flagship engagement: a districtwide coaching-cycle program with more than 30 instructional coaches, recurring leadership academies, and the full GDS sequence — Data + Strategy, demonstration, co-plan/co-teach, observation, and explicit feedback. The school results below come from the official 2026 California School Dashboard (2025–26 data), published by the California Department of Education on October 15, 2026, superseding the earlier RCOE preliminary local estimates.^[2][3] These are official state accountability determinations.

Cesar Chavez Elementary

Every reported measure is sourced to the official 2026 California School Dashboard (2025–26 data). ELA improved from -58.4 to -43.4 Distance From Standard (+15.1 DFP), and mathematics from -75.7 to -66.7 (+9.1 DFP).^[2][3][4]

Data as of: October 15, 2026 · 2026 California School Dashboard (2025–26 data)

Desert Mirage High

ELA improved from -14.5 to -1.5 Distance From Standard (+13.0 DFP), the graduation rate rose from 91.6% to 93.7% (+2.2 points), and the suspension rate fell from 4.9% to 3.3% (−1.6 points).^[2][3][5]

Data as of: October 15, 2026 · 2026 California School Dashboard (2025–26 data)

Stated limits: Desert Mirage mathematics moved from -124.7 to -129.0 DFP over the same window, a 4.2-DFP decline (the official CDE change-column figure) — the improvement was not uniform. Science and College/Career Indicator changes are excluded because they did not reconcile to the official 2025 baseline. Patterson and Coachella use different measures (CAASPP proficiency rates vs. Dashboard Distance From Standard); the magnitudes are not directly comparable. These cases show movement during the reporting period; they do not isolate the effect of consulting from leadership, staffing, instruction, or other conditions.^[2][5]

The experience behind the evidence

Lifetime Achievement Award

Awarded for his human-rights work — the same conviction that anchors the GDS mission: every student can learn, and the adults share responsibility for the results.

Our founder, Gary D. Soto, is co-author of Crimes Against Learning: Solving the Serial Failure of School Reform and has served multiple school districts across the country as a consultant, coach, and trainer.

These results come from the framework

None of the movement above came from a purchased program. It came from leaders who were trained and coached to a shared standard of instruction — Collective Efficacy made operational through instructional leadership, The Science of Reading, Systematic Explicit Instruction with the GDS mastery gate, and coaching cycles that make adult practice visible. The framework is the product; the results are its receipts.

Or start with why it matters: Crimes Against Learning: The Fallout →

Sources & citations

Measures. CAASPP figures are proficiency rates (percentage meeting or exceeding standard). Coachella figures are California Dashboard average Distance From Standard (DFP), where values closer to zero are better; the two measures are not directly comparable. Every statistic on this page is reproduced verbatim from its verified source; data vintages are printed on each chart.