Oct. 28, 2022
To Staff and the Twin Rivers School Community,
Recently, you may have seen headlines in the news about the drop in student academic test scores, something that we are hearing about across the nation, up and down the state, and in our own district. As background, we are hearing about this now because standardized testing results were recently released from both the state (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP) and the federal government (National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, also referred to as the ‘national report card’).
These results may be making the news, but they certainly were not news to us here in TR. We knew from the time the pandemic closed schools in March of 2020 that we would need to prepare additional academic and extracurricular supports to help accelerate student learning following the abrupt shift from in-person to online learning. And, we are grateful that the government has provided districts with finances to support these extra services, which are so greatly needed by our students at this time. In fact, since July 2020, TR has received $138 million in onetime funds dedicated to programs that help to re-engage our students with school and peers and to accelerate their academic progress.
TR did not wait for state and national test scores to tell us what was easily predictable: the about-face to online learning was hard on our kids, and we need to focus now on addressing their needs and helping them to achieve their academic potential.
In a previous message, I shared with you the many academic resources that we have in place to enhance student learning. You can access information here. In addition to the academic supports mentioned in my previous communication, we have an amazing Expanded Athletics Program for TK through eighth-grade students. We know activities that help students connect with school and engage socially with one another also has a positive impact on their academic success.
All these supports and then some were created during the pandemic so that TR would be ready with amplified services to students following the pandemic. The dip in student achievement data may be getting media attention, but in TR, we anticipated and prepared for this, and we are ready to address and close these learning gaps.
In addition to these supports, one of TR’s greatest resources is a community of strong, capable educators who care deeply about your children and their academic progress. Classroom teachers, teacher librarians, paraprofessionals, administrators, district staff and everyone in TR are working as partners in your child’s education. I want to assure you that we take these test results seriously
and are using them as one of many data points to inform our work.
If you ever feel concerned or unsure about your child’s progress, please reach out to their classroom teacher for more information. We remain committed to the success of every child.
With warm regards,
Steve Martinez, Ed.D.
Superintendent, Twin Rivers Unified
