Strengthen Academic Achievement

It is our responsibility to ensure that every student has access to a high-quality education that prepares them for success beyond Unionville. That is why I am committed to strengthening academic achievement in our district. This includes supporting all students, creating a culture of high expectations and validating student progress with external assessments.

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Strengthening academic achievement is about supporting every student. Those who are struggling should be provided timely and targeted support; those who are eager for more should be given new challenges. We need to deploy proven methods including formative assessments, small group learning, ability-level grouping and direct instruction. And our top notch special education program, while expensive, is something we should be proud of.

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Our schools must be a place where academics are strongly supported. Learning and academic progress should be encouraged, emphasized and celebrated by our whole community. We must not let our commitment to academic excellence be crowded out by secondary goals or eroded by low expectations. Our kids are capable of great things, and we should expect them to put in their best effort.

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Our principals and educators should be evaluated primarily on their ability to achieve student learning outcomes. Specifically, we should see at least a year’s worth of academic growth for each student, regardless of their individual starting points. Regular standardized tests, while not ends in themselves, tell us how well we are doing educating our students, and I support annual testing to give us an unbiased scorecard on the performance of our administrators and teachers. Those assessments also help us identify gaps in the curriculum and continuously improve.

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Achievement isn’t only about test scores, it’s also about our students learning effective habits and behaviors, practicing teamwork, and discovering their talents and interests. That’s why I support our strong offering of extracurricular activities, where students can embrace all kinds of competitive and cooperative opportunities.

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By strengthening student growth and achievement, we are creating a brighter future for our children and helping them achieve their full academic potential. I am committed to providing all students with the support they need to succeed academically, and to hold our administrators accountable to this core purpose of UCF schools.