October, 2011 - Teacher Resources - Tucson Unified School District

Dear Catalina Families:
When I last wrote to you at the end of the last school year, the following statement was part of my
message:
Irregular school attendance remains as the greatest single reason for poor student performance in school.
The students at Catalina who have the worst attendance records also have the lowest grades. We can not help
students when they are not here. All of us must work together to ensure that a student’s absence from school is
an exception, not the rule.
At the beginning of this school year, I joined other members of our school staff in conducting student
assemblies for each of the four grade levels at our school. We have held these assemblies every August (and
every January) since my first year as your principal. It’s important to hold these gatherings so that we can share
with students our hopes and expectations for them.
I told the students that if they engage in three behaviors on a consistent basis, they are more likely to be
successful and happy during their tenure at Catalina:
- Be here and be on time
- Do your best on every assignment
- Ask for help when you need it
The first one remains the most vital. As we close out the first quarter of
this school year, we remain aware of the paramount importance of student
attendance. Teachers emphasize this point in all their classes and we have
an “Impact Team,” made up of administrators, counselors and other key staff
members who intervene with students whose poor attendance is causing
them to fail their classes. Parents play the most important role in any student’s
regular school attendance. You can give your child no greater gift than ensuring
that they are in school each and every day.
Principal
Rex Scott
One of the most important changes we have made to our policies and practices was shared with students
at the August assemblies. We recognize that assessment should not be a “one-shot deal” and that our goal in any
class is to make certain that all students have mastered the standards taught to them. For that reason, students
now have the right (and the responsibility) to re-take any major test, or other significant assignment that they
failed the first time they took it. I told students that they must use this new right as a tool, not a crutch. It is
still their duty to be in all their classes on time every day, to do their best on every assignment and to behave
appropriately. If they don’t do those things, it won’t matter how many chances they get to take a test!
Many of our freshman and sophomore students are now enrolled in “academic support classes,” also
known as “Response to Intervention.” These classes, taught by Cheryl Beran and Victor Greco, are designed for
students who need additional time and assistance with math and literacy. These are also students who are failing
two or more of their other classes. We are already seeing promising results in these classes and know that they
will be of incredible utility to some of our neediest students.
We recognize that the freshman year is the most important predictor of how any student will perform in
high school and if they will graduate on time. For that reason, freshmen at Catalina are organized into “houses,”
where one group of teachers has responsibility for working with a designated cadre of freshmen. This structure,
which is in its second year, is helping us to target the unique learning, behavioral and social needs of our youngest
students. Ask your freshman to tell you about their work with their peers and teachers in Griffin, Pegasus or
Phoenix House!
Catalina’s teaching staff is joining their colleagues across the Tucson Unified School District in taking
- Continued next page
TROJAN UPDATE October, 2011 Page 2