Blogtoberfest, Day 16: Rick Schmitt

How have connections with other professionals improved your practice?  Today's entry is from Rick Schmitt, Superintendent of SDUHSD:

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY DISTRICT CONNECTIONS

The San Dieguito Union High School District each year receives approximately 2,000 7th grade students from our friends in the Cardiff, Del Mar, Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe, and Solana Beach elementary school districts. SDUHSD is blessed to have such amazing partners in all five of our feeder elementary school districts.

For years, SDUHSD has regularly met with our elementary districts to discuss curriculum, instruction, assessment and technology. This year, we are able to blend those topics into planning for a transition to the Common Core State Standards, (CCSS) in Math, English, Social Studies and Science.

In our first regional CCSS meeting on September 17, 2013, Cardiff, Del Mar, Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe, SDUHSD, and Solana Beach discussed their academic priorities. Out of that discussion came a list of shared academic priorities. Those priorities for 2013-14 are:

• Parent / community awareness of CCSS transition 
• Professional development on math instructional shifts for teachers 
• Advanced / accelerated Honors Math & how to approach 
• Instructional materials adoption as a result of CCSS 
• Report card alignment to CCSS at grades K-5 (MS in future?) 
• Integration of technology into teaching/learning and development of digital curriculum 
• Long term English Learners (LTEL) cohesion K-12 

Follow up meetings have already taken place since September 17, and more meetings will follow. Those meetings have and will include teachers, school administrators, parents, students, & community members.

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