| State: California | Number of Students: 8,626 |
| School Type: Public School District | Free and Reduced Lunch: 16.5% |
| Grade Level: 9-Adult | English Language Learners: 11.2% |
School Context
The Whole Person: The district values the whole person, and aims to ensure that instruction incorporates aesthetic, emotional,intellectual, practical and social aspects of learning.
High Expectations: High standards and expectations are important to the district. SMUHSD strives for high quality instruction topush students to reach their potential.
Fostering Self-Esteem: SMUHSD believes that self-esteem is critical for student motivation and achievement. The district aims toinstill dignity in its students, and maintain strong family communication so that families can support students at home.
Responsible Citizens: SMUHSD works hard to teach citizenship and responsibility to all learners. The district believes that therelationship between the individual learner and the school community is paramount for student success.
State of Technology
BYOD: In 2013, SMUHSD began allowing students to bring their owndevices to school to be used during specified times throughout theschool day. These devices include laptops, tablets, eReaders andsmartphones. The district is now focused on developing infrastructurethat can support all students to be on the network at once.
1:1 Digital Classroom Project: Thanks to the district’s $80 million BondO funding, it was able to fund a 1:1 pilot in 40 teachers’ classrooms in2013. The pilot has provided teachers with multiple types of devices,including Chromebooks, a variety of tablets and laptops. The district hasaimed to study which devices they should support and the instructionalgoals they should pursue.
Common Core Instructional Shifts: As the district has integratedCommon Core standards it has begun to develop a mastery-basedapproach for assessing students. The district aims to give students achance to use portfolios as a way to demonstrate their learning. Withthis shift, the district is looking for tools that have interactivity, creationand collaboration opportunities, as well as data that informs instruction.
Focus on PD: The district has a multifaceted approach to professionaldevelopment. The district uses embedded professional development time,instructional rounds, and hands-on work, including peer observations.Teachers also join research groups around academic literacy, developingstrategies and uncovering how technology can support literacy. To supporttechnology integration, the district hosted a Summer Institute, whereteachers worked together to design pilots that they are executing on this fall.
Tech Needs & Requirements
Technology tools must be able to integrate with Aries.The district needs PD tools for asynchronous training
Initiatives
Math Pilot: San Mateo Union is looking to adopt tools that support Common Core math curriculum. Currently, they are pilotingPearson’s EnVisionMATH.