Balanced Academics

I advocate balancing where students are developmentally with what they need academically. I believe in spending appropriate time in foundational literacy skills before emphasizing additional subject matter standards. I think the district should create an 'opt-in' option for individual statewide assessment results, rather than sending out these misleading results by default.

Policy Proposals

Policy: The district should regularly rely on the expertise of its educators to review and evaluate the statewide standards. The standards provide guidance but do not include child development research or curriculum, which must be incorporated to balance academics and instruction. K-6 academic priorities should follow research, which emphasizes literacy as the first and most important subject for all students.

Policy: The district should develop a community engagement plan to educate all community members on the purpose of statewide assessments and the usefulness of these scores in evaluating student learning. Misunderstanding statewide assessment data is a key issue that creates dissatisfaction throughout the community.

Policy: The early childhood screening process should include support for parents in determining the appropriate time to start their child in school. Research shows many children would benefit from beginning kindergarten at age 6, and parents should be informed about this information and understand when the state requires their child to start school.