Our focus as a school district is to set the conditions for all students to discover their strengths and grow their skills and abilities in a positive, supportive learning environment. To this end, our staff is laser focused on building a new system to measure student growth. This system will move away from primarily using high stress assessments to a broader performance framework.
When teachers at the elementary level assess students, are they opening doors for them or closing them? This is the question a group of elementary teachers are grappling with in collaboration with the San Diego County Office of Education and Envision Learning Partners. Through this collaboration, teachers are beginning to design performance assessments that will give students an opportunity to show their learning in multiple ways. These assessments will be “piloted” in classrooms in the spring, and teachers will share the results with each other during a Spring Convening. In conjunction with this project, teachers are also redesigning the progress report to reflect a standards or mastery based grading system and align character traits from the Vista Unified Learner Portrait.
At the middle and high school level, work has begun to build a performance framework that will create a comprehensive student profile, allowing teachers, students, families, and administrators to see a larger and more detailed picture of each learner on campus. Students will be provided meaningful and authentic opportunities to demonstrate what they know, and teachers will collect common evidence of the mastery of standards. Assessments will not just be limited to end-of-unit tests but will also include benchmarks and formative assessments that will allow teachers and students to adjust instruction and learning to better meet the needs and fill gaps before units are completed. And, in addition to academic assessments, students will also be given the opportunity to reflect on and self-assess their social-emotional wellbeing in terms of belonging, connection, and engagement. These began in October and will be completed this week. And, starting in December, students will also have three opportunities this year to self-assess their progress in the Vista Unified Learner Portrait, sharing how they have demonstrated being kind and confident, curious and connected, and capable and knowledgeable.
Once again, Vista Unified has secured at-home COVID-19 testing kits for all students and staff in our district. The kits will be delivered to school sites this week and sent home with students by Friday, November 18th. Families are strongly encouraged to test their students within 24 hours of returning to school on Monday, November 28th. Any positive test results should be reported to your student’s school. And, if your student is experiencing any COVID-like symptoms, we ask that you keep them home. The most commonly reported COVID-19 symptoms include fever, cough, congestion, sore throat, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Vista Unified School District
