In his 37 years as an educator, Paul Cordeiro, the Superintendent of the Newhall School District, has witnessed many changes in the system and steps taken, which he believes will ultimately benefit the children.

The new system of standards is known as Common Core and was developed by a group of partners and adopted at the state level.

“Statements about what students should know and be able to do at every grade level have changed education,” said Cordeiro. “They’ve made it much more precise in terms of what the outcomes are for kids.”

With the introduction of a new set of standards also came a new way of testing whether or not the students are meeting them.

The testing system used previously was known as the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program, or STAR, and paved the way for programs such as the Academic Performance Index to be able to rank schools.

Although the new testing system still allows for the ranking of schools, the way in which students are tested is much different.

“There is still multiple choice but it’s a very, what we call, adaptive test. It takes kids up a level or down a level depending on how they’re performing, and kids actually have to do a considerable amount of writing,” said Cordeiro. “So it is a pretty valid challenge to kids ability to think and that makes it pretty distinct and more rigorous than our previous testing system.”

On multiple occasions, Cordeiro alludes to the fact that he believes teaching the students to think is the key to their success and the success of the school system.

“In the future, they have to be really good thinkers, good communicators, team players and you know what they have to understand where our economy is going in terms of careers and they really focus on science and technology,” explained Cordeiro.

The main focus of schools within the Newhall School District has always been educating the students and staying on course with a curriculum that will push children to reach their full potentials as students, Cordeiro said.

“It’s easy to change course or to start things that are considered really cool or trendy, but for elementary kids remember we’re talking about foundational skills and foundational skills means parents should expect that their child learn to read with some fluency by the end of first grade,” said Cordeiro.

The superintendent also believes the future careers of America will be centered around science and technology.

Starting in elementary school, education in science, technology and the ability to write are viewed as the areas to focus on.

The schools have designated certain resources to make sure a strong fundamental knowledge of science is taught.

“This is a district that has designated science facilities at the elementary level with designated science curriculum specialists and we have a lot going on right now to realize the future of science instruction through allocated resources by the board to put all that in the right direction,” explained Cordeiro.

Overall, the superintendent is proud to be a part of a district consisting of schools that perform highly and credits the success to the school’s ability to successfully teach students to think and to put their thoughts on paper.

“I’ve always told people, Newhall stands out as the highest performing district in the valley, said Cordeiro, “because it has as a centerpiece of what it does instructionally of a very connected very well thought out system of how we teach kids to write.”

Ed. Note: This article is based on a recent radio interview with Newhall School District Superintendent Paul Cordeiro.