- A new standard for San Diego schools
-
- Ed Lopez
- LOPEZ is a member of the San Diego School Board
-
- While students and families enjoy the summer break, a group
of dedicated
- parents, teachers, principals, business representatives,
community leaders
- and others have been hard at work developing districtwide,
K-12 grade-level
- standards to be implemented in 1998.
-
- These standards -- in the areas of language arts,
mathematics, science,
- social studies, visual and performing arts and applied
learning (work-force
- preparation) -- will form the basis, along with the
district's
- accountability system, for insuring that all of our
children and schools
- succeed.
-
- The development of standards is a huge and important step
for San Diego
- city schools. As chairman of the Board of Education
Subcommittee on
- Standards, and along with fellow board member Sue Braun,
our task will be
- to guide and monitor the development of measurable
grade-level standards.
- We want high standards that challenge all of our students
to succeed. We
- want standards that represent a balance between basic
knowledge (foundation
- skills) and application of knowledge (problem solving,
etc.).
-
- Equally as important, we want our standards to be developed
by a broad
- representative group of teachers, parents, principals and
business and
- community leaders. Currently, over 150 people are
aggressively engaged in
- drawing up, discussing and refining these standards. Come
this fall, the
- standards will be ready for public review.
-
- With the development of standards, San Diego city schools
are on the
- cutting edge of change and reform. Nationally, our district
is ahead of
- many others in this area. This desire for standards is
really a call for
- two things: quality and consistency. Everyone wants to know
that the public
- schools are concentrating on teaching students the
important things -- what
- all students should know and be able to do in grades K-12.
-
- They also want to know that these important things are
being taught to all
- students, not just those in special courses or suburban
schools. Wanting
- high standards is wanting the reassurance that the best
education taking
- place in schools is taking place in all our schools.
-
- Our standards are primarily teacher-developed, which makes
sense. Teachers
- have the clearest sense of the scope of work involved in a
subject area,
- and how to build upon each year's work with students. We
have been sure,
- however, to include others in the process.
-
- Parents play a key role in telling us what they think is
important for
- their children to learn; and business people help us to
focus on the kinds
- of things future employees need to know. A higher education
advisory
- committee, consisting of representatives from local
colleges and
- universities has been advising us on the ties between our
standards and
- what incoming college students should be prepared to do.
Clearly, everyone
- has a role to play.
-
- At public forums in the fall, we will be asking parents and
the community
- to give us their comments on district standards. These
forums will be held
- in a variety of locations throughout the district and at
different times of
- day or evening for the convenience of those attending. This
is an important
- role parents and other members of the community can play.
-
- Additionally, a panel of nationally recognized experts will
be convened to
- measure our standards against other models. This will help
tell us whether
- we are setting the standards bar high enough.
-
- What is particularly important about the San Diego city
schools standards
- is that they will be tied to more than classroom use. These
standards will
- also serve as the basis for the district accountability
system -- and will
- be our yardstick to measure how well schools are moving all
students toward
- achieving standards.
-
- The district is putting in place a system of student
assessments which will
- give us information about how students are doing using
standardized tests,
- standards-based tests, portfolios and report-card grades.
Thus, standards
- tell us what students should learn and learn well; our
assessments tell us
- how well students are making progress toward standards; and
our
- accountability system allows us to recognize those schools
that are doing
- well and to intervene in those schools that are not.
-
- This school board has heard the public demand for better
schools and
- student achievement. We know our students must -- and can
-- succeed in an
- ever-competitive world. Standards will be a major step in
this direction. I
- urge everyone to get involved in our schools and understand
how standards
- will improve education for all children in San Diego city
schools.
-
- It is a new standard for all of us.
-
- Copyright Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
|
