November 2, 2022
Dear GUSD Families and Friends,
Just yesterday the Arizona Department of Education released the 2021-2022 school letter grades in the Arizona A-F Accountability system. Globe Unified School District received letter grades as follows for its 3 schools.
Copper Rim Elementary School – C; High Desert Middle School – D; Globe High School – C
The ADE A-F Accountability process considers student achievement test scores, student growth, percentage of students tested among the factors considered in determining the final grade for schools. At times in the past decade each of the school listed above was rated an “F” or failing school. Through the significant efforts of building leadership and staff each one of our schools has shown slow but steady improvement. These scores show that improvement.
GUSD has significant work to do to continue to improve our academic outcomes. Building leaders in each of our schools are laboring diligently with their staff to seek to grow our academic performance. The goals of these efforts is to provide each student with the tools they need to compete in the 21st century world marketplace. While I would like our students to perform better on a standardized test each year, the standardized test does not truly offer an accurate description of a student. Each student has their own unique talents and abilities. In the same light, a single letter grade does not offer a total picture of how a school serves the needs of its students.
Aside from my editorializing about the flaws in applying a single letter grade to a school, I realize we must continue striving to meet the needs of our students better. GUSD continues to work toward improved academic performance throughout the district’s schools with programs such as these:
- Reading interventions at all grade levels.
- Increased emphasis on mathematics intervention at all grade levels.
- Tracking student performance data to determine who the struggling students are.
- Working to improve student attendance as attendance is a key factor in individual student growth.
- Providing additional programs and resources wherever and whenever feasible to improve student academic achievement improvement.
I am proud of our efforts to raise our letter grades, but there is still much to be done. Aside from raising letter grades GUSD will continue to work to meet the needs of each individual student. The district’s mantra “Capturing Hearts, Empowering Minds” focuses on these efforts. At GUSD we honestly believe in the old saying, “kids don’t care what you know, until they know that you care!” That little saying embodies the “capturing hearts” portion of our motto. The efforts we are making to grow student achievement and help each student grow academically and intellectually illustrate the “empowering minds” portion of the vision statement. We remain committed to academic and intellectual growth as we work to give our students the best learning environment we can. As always I welcome any questions or comments at 928-402-6013.
Sincerely,
Jerry Jennex, Superintendent
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Superintendent's Web Message Nov 2, 2022