Student Achievement
By meeting its Local Control Accountability Plan ( LCAP ) goals , the district is eligible to receive funds for English learners , socioeconomically disadvantaged students and foster youth . These funds enable programs to help close the achievement gap across the district .
“ We don ’ t want to lose even one student ,” Dr . Flores said . “ We have a comprehensive program to help all students – even those who have dropped out . They can come back and work with teachers at night and in the summer , and eventually earn their diploma .”
For GUSD schools , the drop-out rate is down from 20 percent to 9.4 percent , well below both the county , state and national averages . At the same time , there ’ s been a major uptick in the graduation rate , which reached 85 percent last year and is expected to improve further this year .
Beginning with next year ’ s 9th Grade class , students will be expected to complete A-G coursework in order to graduate . By doing so , they will have met the curriculum requirements of the University of California for eligibility to apply to its schools . The A-G curriculum has also been adopted by Morgan Hill and a number of other Santa Clara County school districts and is supported by the Silicon Valley Education Foundation .
“ We ’ re setting the bar high so that graduating students will have more choice of schools to which they can apply . Studies show that today ’ s students may have several different careers in their lifetime . Advances in technology and the sciences demand new skills and ways of working . We don ’ t know what careers will look like twenty to thirty years from now , but what we do know is that high achieving students are much more likely to be successful in their careers .”
GUSD is in its third year of focus on Common Core Standards , and Dr . Flores said that students across the district will be wellprepared when Common Core testing begins next year .
“ Common Core came from businesses and schools nationwide , saying that public schools must better prepare students for careers ,” Dr . Flores explained . “ Its adoption brought a lot of changes . We ’ ve set new goals , provided intensive staff development , and created specific initiatives at elementary and secondary school levels to reach these goals . We are teaching to the new standards , helping students learn how to apply knowledge to solve complex problems with critical thinking and collaborative skills .”
Planning For Growth Gilroy continues to attract new families who want to raise their children here . Currently , the district serves 11,571 students , with 150 new students expected to enroll in the fall of 2015 , and a bigger increase anticipated the following year . Managing this
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