New School Year Brings Higher Expectations, New Technology

Despite working through one of its worst years financially, last year, the actually saw an increase in student achievement; with the beginning of the new school year on Thursday, Sept. 8, district officials said that they are looking to not only continue the success of last year, but also to improve it.

; the goal was to reach at least 800.

“We’re happy with the progress, but we’re not satisfied until everyone succeeds,” said Dr. Gary Smuts, district superintendent.

The reason the district has been able to improve student achievement while facing more cuts, Smuts said, is because it has forced district officials to put their energy into the fundamentals. As a result, the district is less comprehensive in its offerings, but is now even more focused on classroom instruction, he said.

Smuts said part of the way the district plans on improving student achievement this year is by implementing a new web-based assessment and data management system called Illuminate Education, Inc., to help everyone in the district — from teachers to superintendents — learn more about how students learn and what they are learning. This system will replace the district’s older system, which has been in place for the past five years, and will allow teachers to create personalized tests based on the California standards.

“Several years ago, we decided that every professional needed access to the data so we provided training and showed how to use student data,” Smuts said. “We trained principals to array and analyze the data so that it can impact instruction; (this new system) makes our use of data more sophisticated.”

One of the ways that the district is working to ensure student achievement is by using benchmarks — some as frequent as bi-weekly or monthly — to test students’ knowledge. This system, Smuts added, does not mean that students are tested “in a crazy fashion all the time,” rather it can be as simple as a handful of questions that will inform the teacher whether he or she can move on to the next step.

Future Leadership

At the end of this school year, Smuts will retire after serving as district superintendent for the past seven years. .

According to Smuts, Sieu was chosen as his replacement because she has her “fingerprints in every good idea that’s come from the district.” Furthermore, Sieu has been instrumental in helping the district survive economic setbacks by obtaining more than $50 million in grant money for the district, he added.

This year, Sieu was able to obtain a federal grant of $5.6 million for mental health services, which will help pay for a new program for counseling for not only students, but also their siblings and family.

The district sees mental health as a priority, Smuts said, because it believes in the importance of a healthy family.

“Challenges that students and families face doesn’t help their education,” Smuts said. “Without a healthy family you’re probably not going to have a healthy child, and you can’t separate those two; we want to keep everybody connected, involved and engaged.”

Next month, Smuts will deliver the State of the District, where he said he will discuss in detail what the district is doing to help its students and community. The meeting is hosted by the and will be held on Tuesday, Oct.11 at 11:30 a.m. at the , located at 12725 Center Court Drive South.

Smuts said that economic factors aside, he believes the district continues to be one of the best and that officials work tirelessly to help not only students, but also the community.

“We’re not slowing down, we’re getting better and if you need help beyond the classroom we’re also here for you,” he said. “Whether your child’s education or community services, (ABC Unified) is somebody you can count on.”