Excelling Teaching & Learning : S.I.M. & A.R. : Message from the Executive Director

It is the mission of the Scottsdale School District's Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Division through the Student Information Management & Accountability Reporting (SIMAR), Curriculum, Gifted, English Immersion Studies (EIS) and Career Ladder Departments to support and implement the vision, mission and goals of the district. To achieve this mission, the division promotes the use of data from varying sources in making decisions about curriculum adjustment and changes, as well as plans for meeting individual student needs. These efforts will support the District's vision of 32 Excelling schools.

As educators, we are acutely aware that academic data show only a snapshot of student growth and achievement. Daily classroom performance, emotional health, and work and leisure habits are all important parts of any educational picture. These important variables are not ignored, but lend themselves to non-test measures. The Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment division supports the ongoing evaluation of student success based on multiple measures utilized by teachers.

Our state legislature dictates the administration of the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS). To round out the educational picture, our District Assessment Program (DAP) helps us identify weaknesses in our curriculum and allows us to identify students at risk of failing to meet Arizona State Standards. These two sources of data give us information on how our students compare to other students nationally and to those within our state. These data, reported through Galileo, provide teachers concrete, specific areas to support all students. Specifically, students struggling to meet standards are provided step-by-step directions for support and remediation. teachers are also provided this specific data for students meeting the standards on AIMS and are able to provide enrichment opportunities to exceeds the standard.

The schools in the Scottsdale Unified School District do exceptionally well on AIMS, often posting some of the best scores in the state. With a continued focus on using data to improve our curriculum and our instruction, and a goal of keeping our local standards high, we can expect improvement in our performance on these measures of district, school and student academic success. The District firmly believes that these data are tools to teachers, administrators and parents to support the learning of all of our students. Our expectation is that these tools are utilized to inform instruction, support and professional development to meet the needs of our students, as well as teachers and administrators. It is our division's goal to support each of our campuses with the necessary data, curriculum and training to achieve their goal of Excelling status.

Our Web site will change from time to time as new data arrives and as our electronic capability to investigate and present variables affecting student achievement improves. In the meantime, should you have any questions, contact me at 480-484-6203 or by e-mail at ilaczko @susd.org.

Sincerely,
Dr. Ildiko Laczko-Kerr
Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment