Hello GUHSD Teachers and Administrators,

As you know at this point, GUHSDLearns (along with a number of other programs) is shutting down at the end of June. It has been an honor supporting and serving the students, teachers, and administrators of the Grossmont Union High School District.

GUHSDLearns was more than a department. It was a collaborative effort across departments and with schools. We relentlessly embraced an equity and innovator’s mindset dedicated to continuously enhancing our instructional programs and providing deeper support for our historically marginalized students. Thank you to everyone who leaned into this work with us.

There were a lot of ideas, programs, and professional learning out of GUHSDLearns. We attempted to capture them here in the GUHSDLearns Legacy Documents. These resources will live on indefinitely.

GUHSD is brimming with incredible programs and dedicated staff members. Nevertheless, we firmly believe that it's time for our systems to adapt and truly prioritize the evolving needs of our students. Our 82% graduation rate (a lag indicator) is screaming that fact. A solution can’t just come from a superintendent, director, or principal. It is a discussion and partnership between staff and administration only after you have really understood all of our big data in the context of the street data - what are our students and family perceptions of their experiences? Here is an activity you can dig into if interested - or better yet - do this as a school with your school’s data.

Since you won’t be receiving any future GUHSDLearning Adventure newsletter or GUHSDLearns Surveys (and the results). Here are some questions we would like to leave you with:

1. In what ways do you cultivate a culture of belonging for students who do not reflect your cultural and linguistic identities?

2. In what ways do you use interactions, instructional practices, and curriculum to Unearth Joy for your students?

3. In what ways are you a champion for all of your students?

4. What are you proactively doing for the students you know are going to struggle on an activity, lesson, assessment, etc.?

5. Do your grades reflect the learning of your course standings? Does a student know what specifically they learned or didn’t learn in that context?

6. What steps will you take to level-up your teaching, counseling, and administrative abilities in the upcoming year and beyond?

7. How can you harness the hope we all have for the students in our schools to overcome the many obstacles ahead of us?

Link to Message