Superintendent's Update - April 29, 2022

BOARD OF EDUCATION AGENDA CALENDAR

The Board of Education calendar of meetings can be found HERE. Public comments for meetings may be made in-person or submitted through email to board@pausd.org.

SCHOOL NEWS ROLL CALL

The last edition of School News Roll Call was recently published and can be found HERE. This edition was dedicated to a reflection of the past year. I would like to thank all of our principals for sharing their thoughts about the year and for everyone who contributed to making memories for our students.

It has been a while since PAUSD has been a good rhythm. It is FINALLY starting to feel like our feet are under us and we are back into a traditional cycle. Our priority goals are established for next year and our annual report for 2021-22 is complete. Our staffing is nearly complete for next year at all levels of the organization. Staff turnover is minimal and almost all administrative positions have been filled internally. By next year, all of our students will be back in our traditional in-person setting. Optimism abounds!

We still have more than 20 days of school left. It is important for everyone to finish strong and make good decisions. Enjoy every banquet, assembly, promotion, and graduation on the horizon!

EARLY LITERACY

Elementary educators have worked with their site Principals and Reading Specialists to engage in our first District-wide Benchmark Assessment System (BAS) calibration. All PAUSD classroom teachers use the BAS to determine students' reading behaviors and processes when they read. This formative assessment, administered to every student three times per year at a minimum, provides teachers with information to make decisions about their reading groups and areas of instructional focus for their unique readers.

Teacher calibration with Specialists is common practice within our school sites. The District-wide calibration provides insight into the standardization of analyzing student reading and alignment of our teachers at the same grade level across schools. Site Principals and Reading Specialists will receive the results to inform our ongoing work of providing optimal differentiated instruction based on accurate assessment, one of several essential elements required in developing proficient readers.