As we enter our 7th week of the school year, I believe teachers and children are hitting their "groove." Our teachers have completed their start of the year assessments for each student, are getting to really know their students as children and students, and are preparing for next week's Parent/Teacher Fall conferences.
Recently, the state released the results of last spring's California Standards Test (CST's). Many of you may know these tests as the STAR (State Testing and Reporting) test. Each year, the state goes through a complicated calculation that yields each school and district's Academic Performance Index (API) and I am happy to report that Walt Disney Elementary's API grew 10 points from 917 to 927!! While this is only one measure of a high performing school, we should all feel good about this validation. As a school district, SRVUSD continues to perform on the STAR as one of the higher performing school districts in the state. It is sure nice to hear good news from our state.
One of the things that I am most proud to say about our start of the year is that each individual teacher and staff member is doing their best to shelter our students from the recent cutbacks due to budget constraints. As adults, it is frustrating to see schools have less and less resources from the state. While the state's lack of a budget is still problematic to our schools, and while the adults in our community and state carry on discussions and problem solve how to rectify the budget problems, our teachers and staff recognize that we need to do all we can to create an environment that is a "great place to learn and grow" for our students.
The resolve and willingness to help of our WD community continues to impress me. In addition to the continuing programs through WDPTA, DESEF, and the school we have started a new Helping Hands program. Helping Hands is a centralized program of parent volunteers who come in on a regular basis to make copies and/or prep materials for teachers, freeing up our teachers to spend their time and energy collaborating with grade level teams and planning curriculum. We have started small, but Joni Schaeffer (3rd grade teacher and Teacher on Special Assignment) has our small team almost ready to go. Helping Hands is a perfect opportunity if you are interested in a low commitment level volunteer opportunity. If you have an hour here or an hour there available and are interested in our Helping Hands program, contact Joni Schaeffer.
One of our staff goals this school year (as well as a district goal) is to investigate new strategies to maximize 21st Century teaching and learning strategies. Last year, the WD community did a great deal of work to acquire technology tools that now make our classrooms relevent technologically again. Thank you! We recognize that our students are "digital natives" (they were born into our digital world) while many of us on staff, including me, are "digital immigrants" (recognized the need to move into the digital world) or even "digital refuges" (were forced to move into the digital world). The use of technology is an important part of 21st Century teaching and learning, and can create learning opportunities for students that are not available using more traditional methods. To our teachers' credit, they are open to learning new tools and teaching strategies that will enhance 21st century student learning. In some ways, we are learning together with our students and that is exciting. Some strategies will involve technology, but some will be just strategies that promote the 5 C's of 21st century learning -- creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and curiosity. We will also explore methods to provide parents with technology learning opportunities through our PTA or Site Council. As always, thank you for your support of Walt Disney Elementary and its students.
Joe Nguyen
Principal
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