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Author Archives: Steve Atwater
Poverty and Test Scores
Each spring our students take the state’s Standards Based Assessment (SBA), a test that assesses skill levels in reading, writing and math. As has been the case in the past, this year, KPBSD students’ SBA results were far better than those of their Alaskan peers. We should all feel good about this. The SBA is […]
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Personnel, A Moving Target
Early in my career as a school superintendent I received a phone call from a teacher on New Years Day. She was calling to let me know that she was quitting her job and would not be returning to her village school for the second semester-the Christmas break was scheduled to end two days later. […]
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Getting Smarter with Smart Phones
One of our on-going challenges is figuring out how to effectively use personal computing devices in our classrooms. I know that some of our teachers struggle with how to make use of the smart phones that rest in many of our students’ pockets. There is little question that the phones can be a distraction to […]
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Supporting our Graduates
The last week of school is one of those stretches of time when there is so much going on that things quickly blur into an endless series of events. In the late afternoons and evenings of this week, high schools hold their graduation ceremonies, the culminating events of the year. This week, I was fortunate […]
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Keeping Things Half-Full
Earlier this week I listened to public comment taken on the borough assembly’s ordinance to raise the salary of our borough mayor. Those who spoke against the ordinance referenced the peninsula’s poor economy stating that it was not fair for this position to receive such an increase while many residents were economically suffering. On the […]
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Teacher Unions Not To Blame
One of the more interesting developments from the nation’s mid-term elections is the labeling of organized labor as a reason for the country’s economic downturn. As I am sure you have seen, teacher unions are at the top of this list of those to blame. While I am not always in agreement with all of our teacher […]
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Math, It’s Elementary
During the first week of May it was my privilege to take part in the Seward Math Bowl. This is an annual event that brings together our upper elementary students from around the district. The teams compete in two half hour exercises. It is a great venue for the participating students to showcase their excellent math […]
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Keeping our Teachers Hungry
Last week I was in Anchorage to help our HR department with the hiring process at the state’s annual job fair; meeting prospective teachers is one of my favorite things to do. We are fortunate that KPBSD is one of the more desired places in Alaska to teach- there were a lot of candidates waiting […]
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AYP, Only a Part of the Story