Community leaders offer ideas for student achievement

To achieve ongoing improvement in student achievement, schools must define how they will measure success and align instruction, curriculum, and assessment with those goals, according to participants in a special Summit for Student Achievement held Dec. 3 at the Scottsdale Unified School District.

The daylong summit brought together leaders from the community, parents, teachers, and district administrators to discuss how local schools can ensure that students continue to improve each year as their progress through the Scottsdale schools. A full report from the summit is expected in January.

“The quality of the education we provide in the Scottsdale schools has a tremendous impact on the entire community,” said Superintendent Barbara Erwin. “The parents, the community leaders and our teachers all have a big stake in the education to our children. This was an important step in making sure we hear their ideas as we take a closer look at how we can be sure that every student in Scottsdale makes progress every year.”

Among the other priorities identified by Summit participants:

• Develop a meaningful long-range plan for those most-directly responsible for implementing necessary changes.
   
• Create a culture that systematically articulates hope and optimism to kids and parents.
   
• Provide teachers and schools with training and reliable infrastructure necessary to achieve the goal of yearly achievement by all students.
   
• Develop and maintain an individualized profile and education plan for each student.
   
• Bring business and all stakeholders to the table to create a positive resolution to funding issues, including local and state issues.

The Summit was sponsored by IBM, which provided laptop computers for participants to use during the event. Facilitators from Team Dynamics Associates of Wayne, Pa., are now reviewing participants’ comments and preparing a final report that is expected to be delivered to the district in January. District officials will use the report to help plan how schools and teachers can help children in the district continue to make adequate yearly progress toward a brighter future.

“This is just the first step,” Dr. Erwin said. “We already have good schools and good students throughout our district, but the challenge before all of us is to keep working toward even better schools and graduates who can be part of creating an even brighter future for this community.”
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