From the Desk of the Superintendent
Superintendent Michael W. Caston, Ph.D.
September 28, 1999
During the 1999-2000 school year, the Santa Barbara Elementary and High School Districts will continue to set high standards of academic achievement for all students. Utilizing a strategic planning process and guided by the Board of Education focus goals, we will continue to identify our challenges and work as a team so that our Districts have common goals and a clear direction.
Our Elementary and Secondary Districts have moved forward on several fronts. We have:
- established a facility plan for the Elementary District;
- developed a comprehensive diversity plan;
- developed a Secondary District facility master plan;
- improved and expanded our staff development programs;
- established an additional educational option for parents with the recent opening of the Santa Barbara Community Academy;
- developed and implemented a comprehensive technology plan for all schools;
- enhanced our public information capability;
- built a stronger working relationship with all feeder school districts and the Santa Barbara County Education Office;
- established a parent education program to give parents a better chance to support their children;
- developed a three-year budget plan and established a minimum 5% reserve;
- strengthened our ability to better understand and use our data through the establishment of an Office of Research and Evaluation;
- established two year-round elementary schools to better meet the needs of our students;
- reformed our educational program to improve academic achievement for all students.
These gains have been made because of a commitment to class size reduction; establishment of a seven-period day at the junior high/middle school level (with this increased time devoted to added math and science instruction for all students); development of new content standards; adoption of a strong, prescriptive approach to teaching reading; commitment of resources to larger concentrations of time spent in the study of language arts; increased staff development opportunities; increased academic summer school at the elementary and junior high/middle school level; strengthening of the Advanced Placement program in our high schools; transition from a bilingual program to an English immersion model with Spanish support; adopted the Open Court reading program, which has been enhanced by a grant for reading coaches to assist educators in teaching children to read; and implemented programs at our secondary schools to channel more of our students into college prep classes.
Improved test scores in math and reading, some of which are quite significant, are one indicator that the reforms we are making are indeed shaping student learning. But meeting the needs of more than 17,000 young learners in grades K-12 could not happen without the outstanding leadership and hard work of highly trained, professional certificated and classified staff; the commitment and dedication of the Board of Education; and the schools’ working partnerships with parents and the community at large.
The Santa Barbara School Districts are on the cutting edge of educational change but we also recognize that to stay on this course we have a great deal of work to do in the current school year. With the continued commitment of school, families, and community members, we will move forward to provide the finest public education system possible for our children.