Superintendent Letter September 2011

We hope you have had a great summer and are as excited as all of us in AUSD for the new school year we’ve just begun. Thanks to our supportive community and the continued hard work of our excellent teachers and staff, the 2011-2012 school year is on track to be an good one for our schools.

With the secure local funding we now have in place with Measure A, in Alameda we have a much greater ability than most school districts in California to decide what changes we do and do not want for our schools: On the one hand, we can keep the programs our community most values and avoid making the devastating changes to our schools that so many others around the state now have to make. On the other hand, we have the resources to move forward with next steps for more improvement, choice and innovation in our schools.

The important work we will be continuing this year in our schools this year includes:

- Deepening last year’s work to improve academic instruction by continuing our K-12 math initiative and by increasing the numbers of teachers trained and participating in our ongoing instructional initiatives (SIM and IBD) at the secondary level.

- Implementing the provisions of Measure A that protect key programs that many other school districts are now forced to cut, including small class sizes in K-3 classrooms, enrichment programs such as music and art, counseling and student support services and high school athletic opportunities.

- Also implementing the provisions of Measure A that provide us with resources to move ahead with choice and innovation in our schools in coming years, including proposals for magnet schools, innovative programs and promising practices and other reforms set forth in the 5 Year Plan for the District (formerly referred to as “Master Plan”) adopted in February 2010. We look forward to community input on this process.

We are proud that last spring after the passage of Measure A we were able to take several important steps with new programs. In May, the Board officially designated ASTI (our early college high school located on the campus of the College of Alameda) a magnet school. In addition, last spring Encinal High School received a substantial planning grant from the California Department of Education for “MAD Studios,” a California Partnership Academy aimed at creating a program focusing on the career theme of Digital Media, Animation and Video Game Design. Finally, in June the Board approved funds for the continued planning and development of six proposals for magnet schools, innovative programs and promising practices at schools across the island.

Measure A has placed us on sound financial footing for this coming school year. At the same time, since the state’s fiscal crisis continues, we also know we will still face uncertainty and challenges. We will continue to keep our eyes on Sacramento and will keep advocating for the State to fulfill its responsibility to provide sufficient funding for our schools.

In the past month we have received our STAR test results and API scores showing that Alameda students have continued to make general gains district-wide in 2011, building on the growth of 2009 and 2010. Across the District, Alameda schools improved the percentage of students scoring advanced or proficient in most tested subjects: Math, Science and History. In addition, Alameda Unified School District improved its API overall from 833 in 2010 to 842 in 2011, continuing the general pattern of growth seen in 2009 and in 2010. Although the results show that the overall achievement gap persists in Alameda, as it does across California and the nation, with not all schools and subgroups meeting their targets, we have also seen significant improvement among several subgroups of students district-wide, including gains of 14 points among African American/Black students and 13 points among Filipino students.

Following our remarkable double digit growth as a district in 2009 and 2010 and keeping in mind that these results are from last school year when we had to make many millions of dollars in budget cuts before our community passed Measure A, we have many accomplishments to celebrate. But there are also some disappointing results that we are determined to change and have already taken steps to change. With Measure A now in place, we expect greater educational opportunities for every student in AUSD.

As this school year begins, we are grateful for how strongly all of Alameda, those with and without children in AUSD schools, have come together to support our schools in very difficult times and how many opportunities lie ahead for our students because we did. We also recognize the many shared sacrifices made by all the teachers and staff of AUSD. All of us appreciate that our work this year can focus as much as possible on our primary goal in AUSD: providing the very best educational opportunities we can for all our students. We should all be proud of how far we have come together, what we have saved and the resources we have in hand for the work ahead.

Thank you. As always, feel free to email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call me at 337.7060.

Sincerely,

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Kirsten Vital
Superintendent of Schools