Superintendent's Update - January 31, 2025
From the Office of the Superintendent
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Superintendent Austin’s Message . . .
As I shared earlier, the Superintendent’s Student Advisory group met to with me to discuss several items considered important by our planning team. The group of high school students identified Evidence-Based Grading (EBG) as one of the items we discussed in depth.
Since our group consisted of high school students, they had some experience with EBG and were able to give me some real insights and feedback. Some of this information was what I expected. The consistency of the feedback gave me confidence in the information they were sharing.
In general, most students shared that the idea of EBG made sense to them. The problem was in the consistency and implementation of EBG across the school district. This wasn’t shocking to me given the differing experience levels of our teachers and the fact that EBG is not a mandated way of providing feedback at this time.
The inconsistency in practice was broken into a few buckets. First, they reported some teachers were having progress conversations with them on a schedule and others had few to none. This is important to know and gives us a specific area to tackle in our future professional development. Next, gaps between an assessment and feedback varied by the teacher and could be the source of some anxiety. Finally, some shared that the assessments still leaned heavily on high-stakes assessments late in the semester.
A student stayed after the session to tell me that she had a different experience with EBG at a school in a different country. She believed that EGB is a good thing for students, although the current inconsistencies in our school district are making it confusing for students right now.
We should expect a learning curve for everyone. That is especially true of our teachers who are diving into a shift that may be very new to them. For our teachers, I am hopeful that they can think about the importance of calibrating with their peers and aligning practices to the guiding principles of EBG. For our students, I ask that you provide the type of feedback I received with your teachers. They are on your side and can benefit from hearing directly from you. For our parents, I would like a little space for our teachers and students to evolve in their understanding of EBG.
The best part about our conversation was that it was centered on the experiences of our students, and nobody was trying to take a hard stance. When those things are true, we can make improvements and move forward. In the end, this is an approach designed to help students. There is work to do. Consistency and predictability are important. Thanks again to the group for sharing their thoughts and making us better.
Student Nutrition Services
Calling All Elementary school students, do you love to cook?
Please don’t forget to submit your recipe for the Future Chef Competition for elementary school sites.