Site and district administrators will need to provide teachers with timely, specific, data-driven feedback on utilizing effective strategies for improving student performance. Site and district administrators also will need to provide ongoing support for teachers in using data to make instructional decisions. The administrative and teaching staff are all well trained and fully credentialed. The district has provided many opportunities for on-going professional development for both site administration and instructional staff. There has been a focus on preparing teachers for the majority ELL student population.
Teachers have a strong desire to have their students succeed.
All staff members were very accommodating and open throughout the visitation and interviews. There are few, if any, common agreements on what students are to learn, when, and how they will be assessed. There is a written curriculum for each grade level, but methods of delivery and assessment vary greatly between grade levels and across grade levels. For example, the staff expectation for reading readiness for kindergarten students covers a range of abilities from letter recognition to reading at a pre-primer level. The school needs common agreements about what students at each grade level are to know and be able to do, what assessments will be used, and what performance level meets the standards.