Parents and Guardians,

We have much to be grateful for, and proud of, as a community again this year. Our students continue to impress me with their efforts in the classroom, through extra curricular accomplishments, and in giving back to the community. A profound example of such commitment to our community is the annual Winterfest program. Again this year, I was amazed by the level of support and community building that this special event invokes (see details below). In the flurry of activity and effort throughout our district, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that our students and staff are truly exceptional.

In our efforts to continuously improve, we have provided a laser-focus on reading instruction throughout our entire district. Just last year, we restructured how we taught reading to our 3rd graders. With the recent release of our M-STEP scores, it would appear that these efforts, along with our strong instruction and interventions in Kindergarten through 2nd grade, had a positive impact on student performance. Collectively across the entire district, Carman-Ainsworth 3rd graders kept pace with the State and surpassed Genesee County averages in reading! Although we have often had individual schools and many, many students exceed the State and County average, this is the first time in over five years that our district average has performed at these levels. Based on the feedback from our 3rd grade teachers and these results, we have implemented similar changes for reading instruction in 4th and 5th grade this year and look forward to the second year of M-STEP testing this spring.

In addition to our primary focus on reading, we are also in our first year of implementing the nationally recognized Project Lead The Way STEM curriculum for all elementary students (Kindergarten-5th Grade) and as elective offerings at our secondary buildings. The feedback has been very positive thus far, with students engaging in hands-on problem solving, teamwork and technology. We fully expect that this new way of engaging students at very early ages in science education, with a hands-on approach, will result in more interest and confidence in science and math, which in turn should help to improve student performance in these critical areas.

To be clear, the expectations for students and staff are higher than ever at Carman-Ainsworth and across our State. The new M-STEP assessment sets a higher level of rigor, along with a new manner of assessing students online. These challenges were new to all students across the State last year and the results indicate that we have work to do at all levels. However, I am encouraged by the commitment to higher expectations as well as the high performance of our youngest students…it is evidence that continued, focused efforts will make a positive difference for all of our children.

As we prepare for Winter Break, on behalf of the Carman-Ainsworth Board of Education and our hundreds of employees who serve our community and students each day, I wish all of our families a safe and peaceful Holiday Season.

Steven Tunnicliff, Ph.D.
Superintendent
Carman-Ainsworth Community Schools
810-591-3205
stunnicl@carmanainsworth.org