I am so proud of the work that is being done in our classrooms. The latest round of accountability results released last week shows that our kids are achieving at record levels, and that is only possible when teachers, administrators, parents and students work in concert. As I reviewed the district results I was pleased to see that we made progress in every area for every target group! At the same time we saw gaps begin to close. District-wide the numbers of students who reached proficient or distinguished levels in reading and math increased by 11.65 percent and 11.67 percent respectively. That is a double digit gain in the percentages of kids knocking the tops off of state tests! These results are powerful indicators that we will also see high levels of achievement on the CATS test. I want to thank all of our teachers and staff for your commitment and determination – you are making a difference!

One of the things to keep in mind with the No Child Left Behind results is that we must dig deep into the data to find the real picture. Looking at the scores from just the pass/fail perspective does not tell the whole story. For example, we had one school that made double digit gains for every subgroup in both reading and math yet did not make adequate yearly progress. This school missed one target, based on year-old CATS score data, and as you all know, a school must meet 100 percent of its goals under NCLB. So, through the pass/fail lenses of NCLB, the school did not pass. But the reality is that they did a great job. If you have questions about the NCLB results and would like further explanation please contact your school or our office and we will be happy to go over this with you in more depth.

On the same day that our No Child Left Behind results came out, we also learned that 30 of our high school students had been named National Merit Semi-Finalists. To achieve this honor, these scored in the top 1 percent of students in the country! Later in this edition, we have listed all of our winners … congratulations to all of these students and their families for achieving this top honor.

A strong focus for our school district is the notion of continuous improvement … in everything that we do, we have to look for ways to refine and enhance our offerings and service for children. With that in mind, we are launching a new initiative this year – an advisory group to help improve the services provided to students with special needs. There’s more information about the group provided later in the newsletter … but please consider applying. The application deadline is September 30 and we need representation from all constituencies – parents, educators, private service providers and community advocates – to help make this endeavor a success.