The California Department of Education recently announced that students statewide managed to improve their scores on the California STAR Testing Program for the ninth year in a row. This was true of the Vallecitos Union School District, which cites an increased focus on professional development as the reason for better scores on the California Standards Tests, The Fallbrook Village News reported.
David Jones, the School District's superintendent, believes that more knowledgeable teachers have the potential to help students achieve more in the classroom.
"The focus really needs to be on the teachers," Jones told the news source. "The motivation level had been really low, but now our morale and school climate is improving. The added bonus was our math and reading proficiency levels reaching 50 to 70 percent."
Through the implementation of a professional learning community model, instructors in the School District are now teaching what they consider to be essential standards, as opposed to every standard. In addition, Jones said that certain students are being paired with strong teachers in small groups to ensure that their academic weaknesses are being addressed.
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