Reading the
”
Cheers
”
from the Dispatch editorial board on Saturday capped off an
uplifting week for the Gilroy Unified School District. That
acknowledgment of our teachers and staff members for being
committed to achieving academic excellence and improving the
Academic Performance Index numbers is appreciated by all GUSD staff
members.
By Edwin Diaz, GUSD Superintendent
Reading the “Cheers” from the Dispatch editorial board on Saturday capped off an uplifting week for the Gilroy Unified School District. That acknowledgment of our teachers and staff members for being committed to achieving academic excellence and improving the Academic Performance Index numbers is appreciated by all GUSD staff members.
The similar school ranking is one set of data that is used to measure school improvement in the state. In Gilroy, 20 different sets of data are used to establish our goals and measure school and district effectiveness. The similar school rankings allow schools to look at their academic performance compared to other schools in the state that serve children with similar backgrounds and needs. What I find very encouraging about these scores is this: In the 2001 school year, only one school rated above average or well above average on the similar school ranking, while this year nine of 12 of our schools ranked in this category. The results are significant indeed.
These gains are a direct result of the dedication and hard work of our staff, in particular teachers and site leadership staff members who team together to identify programs and strategies to improve the educational experience for students at their schools.
The willingness of teachers to use data and try new strategies to improve academic performance is the cornerstone of these improvement efforts.
I want to publicly thank staff, students, parents and community members for their efforts and support these past few years. Gilroy schools are certainly much better today as a result of these efforts.
As encouraged as we are about these recent scores, our staff realizes we have many challenges ahead. Improving the number of students proficient in language arts and math, meeting the requirements of No Child Left Behind and ensuring students are well prepared for college-level work are a few of the challenges we face.
However, I am convinced we are up to the challenge. Saturday provided a perfect example of the extraordinary commitment our staff has made to continuous improvement, Every meeting room at the district office was filled with teachers scoring math performance assessments, our own district recruitment faire was being held at Solorsano Middle School where teachers and administrators interviewed more than 35 potential teachers, and the Board of Education and I met in a retreat to complete a
self-assessment on effectively implementing accountability structures. Improvement efforts like these happen continuously in our district.
We are fortunate in Gilroy that we have staff members who are committed to improving our schools and it is gratifying the recent Academic Index Performance scores validate their hard work.
Edwin Diaz is the superintendent of the Gilroy Unified School District. Anyone interested in writing a guest column may contact Editor Mark Derry at ed****@****ic.com.
