Current Educational Issues and Priorities in MBUSD

By Ellen Rosenberg

Please read about my priorities over the next four years.

Current Educational Issues And Priorities

Local Control Funding Formula + Approved in the most recent California budget. Provides base funding for all districts and two supplemental funding levels for districts with high percentages of English Language Learners and/or students from families at, or below, the poverty level. MBUSD will benefit from the increase in base funding in the short term, but may be at a disadvantage over the long term. What remains to be seen is how Sacramento and the LA County Office of Education will implement this significant change in education funding. Therefore, it is critical that we carefully follow the policy rollout and advocate for minimal negative impact on our District. I understand the intent of the formula and its implications.

Common Core Standards + New voluntary academic standards in the areas of math and English/language arts. Adopted by 45 states, including California; will be instituted in 2014. The District is working hard to be ready for this welcome change, which will enable us, for the first time, to compare our students' academic performance against the performance of their peers nationwide. California is the 48th ranked state in the nation, in terms of per pupil funding. The nationally-normed data available as a result of the Common Core will allow us to evaluate the argument that more education funding results in higher student achievement + and act accordingly.

Teacher Evaluation + Professional development and continuous improvement in teacher performance are widely recognized as best practice in education. In MBUSD, we have made important first strides in these areas. We are entering the second year of a two-year Teacher Evaluation pilot, and a robust rubric has been created and tested by a committee of teachers and administrators. This school year we will begin to use the rubric to evaluate all non-tenured teachers and any tenured teachers who opt in. I am very enthusiastic about this program and its potential advantages for both our teachers and students. We have outstanding educators in our District, but everyone can benefit from constructive feedback and clear goals. It is my priority to support this revised teacher evaluation protocol and to see it through to full implementation, district-wide. Further, I support a similar evaluation process for our administrators, an objective that is included in our recently revised Board goals.

21st Century Learning + Our job as School Board Trustees is to create an environment of stability and leadership, enabling our educators to prepare our students for personal success as productive community members and participants in the 21st century workplace, where collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity are key. In our District, we seek to foster these skill sets through the strategic use of technology, continuous improvement of our teaching practices, and an emphasis on our secondary schools (grades 6-12). And we continue to build upon on our collaboration with the Southern California Regional Occupation Center (SoCalROC), in order to bring career-focused educational opportunities to our students. Our goal is to prepare every MCHS student to advance after graduation, whether his/her goal is post-secondary education, career training, or a combination of experiences.

Measure BB Construction + We have just completed Phase 1 of the project, on time and on budget; the 39 classrooms and labs in the newly constructed MCHS math and science building are open for business! Phase 2 (the modernization of the existing single-level classrooms at the center of the MCHS campus, in accordance with current safety requirements and to enable greater functionality) is underway and scheduled for completion in February 2014. Phase 3 will begin in December 2013 and includes the creation of an interior open quad, with a cafeteria annex and new multipurpose room that can be used for classes or as a small performance space. This final phase is scheduled for completion in February 2015.