November 2015 Message from the Superintendent

The First Annual Theatre Festival Comes to CUSD

CUSD has a tradition of excellence in Drama, most recently being honored with National Youth Arts and M.A.C.Y. awards for outstanding theatrical productions of Ghost the Musical and Putnam County Spelling Bee (CHS), and National Youth Arts awards for Grease (SCHS). Last spring, Carlsbad High School and Aviara Oaks Middle School each took First Place Sweepstakes Awards at the 95th Annual Drama Teachers Association of Southern California Shakespeare Festival.

For the last 35 years Carlsbad students have traveled to Los Angeles to receive feedback on their acting and design skills. This year, Carlsbad Unified theater teachers embarked on an exciting new project to bring a better festival experience to our students. Teachers Monica Hall (CHS), Judi Stapleton (CHMS), Andrea Emert (AOMS), and Jillian Porter (SCHS) created their own adjudicated, non-competitive festival, giving middle and high school students the opportunity to be recognized for their achievements.  The First Annual Carlsbad Theater Festival was launched on October 24, 2015.

Seven individual events were organized that day. Students had the chance to showcase their talents in technical direction, serious scenes, humorous monologues, and musical scenes. Many students were recognized for “Bright Spots” in their theatrical presentations. The adjudicators included faculty members from San Diego State University, Cal State San Marcos, Palomar College, Cal Poly Pomona, Mesa College; along with representatives from Moonlight Amphitheatre; North Coast Repertory Theater; and a variety of professional actors and directors.

The festival was attended by 138 students, and was deemed to be a huge success. Plans are already underway for next year’s event. Congratulations to our middle and high school Drama departments for organizing such a wonderful experience for our young thespians.

1st Annual Theatre Festival

October 2015 Message from the Superintendent

Raising the Bar

Like all school districts across the state, CUSD is grappling with the challenges of implementing the new state accountability system--the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), the new state standards and the new testing system--the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP).

These new standards raise the academic bar, demanding increased rigor as we prepare our students for college and the careers of the future. Carlsbad Unified always strives for instructional excellence for all students, and so we welcome the opportunity to make adjustments to our instructional programs to benefit our students.

LCAP: We are using the new state accountability system to set goals and select metrics to help us to monitor our progress towards those goals. Here are some of our results:

One of our key goals is to increase access to challenging curriculum to all students. Our metrics indicate that:

•   Over 58% of our high school students are taking college courses, honors, or Advanced Placement (AP) courses;

•   CUSD was named an AP Honor Roll district for the second year, which indicates that more students are taking the AP tests, while maintaining a pass rate of 80%;

•   210 students enrolled in a MiraCosta College class in 2014-15; and

•   70% of our grads are meeting the UC-CSU A through G college entrance requirements.

We will continue monitoring progress on our LCAP goals throughout the school year.

CAASPP:   The state’s new student assessment systems include some familiar and some very new tests. The new Smarter Balanced-- or SBAC-- computer-based exam is part of California’s comprehensive plan for supporting high-quality learning at every school. These assessments are based on California’s new, more challenging academic standards. The scores that students are receiving now set a baseline, or a new starting point, so teachers and parents can monitor student progress on the new standards.  These assessments go beyond previous systems, testing skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and college and career readiness.

Here in Carlsbad Unified we are pleased to see that our students’ performance set a strong baseline. Seven out of 10 CUSD students met or exceeded the standards in English Language/Literacy, compared to 5 out of 10 in San Diego County and 4 out of 10 at the state level. Six out of 10 CUSD students met or exceeded the standards in Mathematics, compared to 4 out of 10 in San Diego County and 3 out of 10 in the state.   

As educators, we do not look at scores as good or bad—rather we see them as diagnostic tools. The results provide information to help guide and shape instruction to help meet students’ academic needs.

It’s also important for parents and teachers to realize that there are plenty of other measurements available. We have local benchmarks, classroom assessments and report cards that provide us with information about learning. Smarter Balanced exams are just one of many tools available to monitor student progress..

Our capable teachers, administrators, counselors and support staff are working every day to focus on high quality instruction and guide students in meeting and exceeding state standards.

We look forward to working closely with parents and the community to provide every student an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment.