ESD Superintendent Update
Some thoughts for the starting school year
March 2023
Greetings,
This spring has certainly brought its fair share of wild weather - torrential downpours, hail, snow, and then a pop of sunshine. As we turn towards spring break, I hope everyone will take the opportunity to enjoy some fun and rest before we head into the final stretch of the school year.
This is the time of year when we begin to plan for the next school year! Sounds early, I know, but successful school years require the kind of early planning and preparation that go into, for example, the development of our 2023-24 Local Control & Accountability Plan (LCAP). When updating the LCAP, we incorporate feedback for improving student outcomes gathered from our annual surveys for students, staff and families, ThoughtExchange events, advisory committees, and community forums.
Families are invited to review and discuss the revised or new actions of our 2023-24 LCAP with district and school administrators, student services staff, and instruction department curriculum experts at our upcoming Spring LCAP Community Forums on April 4 and 6 (more information below).
Please add these events to your calendar!
March 27-31 Spring Break
April 4 LCAP Community Forum at 9:00 a.m. Day Creek Intermediate School
April 4 LCAP Community Forum at 6:00 p.m. Virtual (Zoom)
April 6 LCAP Community Forum at 9:00 a.m. Virtual (Zoom)
April 6 LCAP Community Forum at 6:00 p.m. Heritage Intermediate School
April 21 AAPEAC Family Engagement Event at 5:30 p.m. Etiwanda Intermediate School
Thank you for your partnership in your child’s education.
Charlayne Sprague
Superintendent
Meet Trustee April McAllaster
April McAllaster took the Oath of Office as a new Trustee on Thursday, March 2, 2023. Mrs. McAllaster was selected from nine qualified community members who applied for a provisional appointment to the vacant position in Trustee Area 2.
We welcome Mrs. McAllaster as a new district leader and look forward to working with our Board of Trustees on the important work we share moving forward.
Preparing for CAASPP State Testing
The Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments are part of the state testing system called the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). The CAASPP system promotes high-quality teaching and learning by informing teachers, students, and their families about what students know and can do, which is an an important part of understanding a student’s readiness for college and career.
Beginning in April, students in grades 3-8 will take the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment for language arts and math. Students in grades 5 and 8 will also take the California Science Test (CAST) for science.
Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments have two components: a comprehensive computer adaptive assessment (CAT) and performance tasks. The computer adaptive test assigns students a variety of item types that allows them to interact with content in different ways. For some math questions, for example, students might be presented with a graphing grid item which allows them to plot points and/or draw lines. The CAT is customized for each student. During a test, the difficulty of questions changes based on student responses—providing more precise information about student achievement in less time than a fixed-form test in which all students see the same set of questions. Adaptive testing is also more accurate across the range of students’ learning skills and abilities.
A performance task is a learning activity which requires students to respond to a real-life scenario to demonstrate their knowledge and skill. Unlike the computer adaptive portion which provides selected-response items (e.g., multiple-choice or matching), a performance task presents a situation or problem that calls for learners to apply their learning in context and communicate a response or solution.
These assessments provide results that are just one piece of information about how your child is doing in school. With report cards, i-Ready diagnostic assessment information, and day-to-day observations, state testing results help understand a student’s readiness for success in higher grades, college, and career.
If you have questions regarding CAASPP state testing, please contact your child’s teacher or school principal. Starting Smarter and additional resources are available from the California Department of education for families.
Battle of the Books
On Saturday, March 11, hundreds of Etiwanda students and community members participated in the 15th Annual Battle of the Books (BOB) held at Summit Intermediate. Congratulations to winning BOB teams and a special shout-out to all the students who worked so hard preparing for this event by meeting the reading requirement to compete! Also, many thanks to all of the volunteers and families who helped make this year’s Battle of the Books such an incredible success!
With over 700 students in grades 3-8 prepared to compete on mixed school teams, our event was one of the biggest yet. Students who participate in this event must read at least 15 of 30 books on the annual BOB list by early spring. Student participants compete in six rounds of competition, answering many questions on each of the listed books. The final battle occurs before all participants in the school gymnasium as the top two scoring teams battle it out for the ultimate prize - victory in reading.
If you are interested in learning more about the BOB event for next year, please see your child’s teacher or school library clerk. School library clerks coordinate BOB readership at each site, assist students to stay on track to compete, and hold mock competitions to practice answering questions about the books and recalling titles and authors. The 2023-2024 Battle of the Books book title list will be released July 1, 2023 on the Etiwanda School District Library Services website.
NEW! California State Library Resources
HelpNow online tutoring is available for free to every learner in California for most K-12 subjects. HelpNow is an online platform for live, on demand tutoring– similar to our Paper online tutoring service provided by the Etiwanda School District.
The California State Library is now offering free 24/7 access to the tutoring service in English and Spanish to every student inside of California. No need for a library card or account set-up! On the website, learners of all ages can click the “Get Started With a Live Tutoring Session” button and receive help from a qualified tutor in most K-12 subjects. Click on the button below to take a quick tour!
