Superintendent's Welcome Message

Dr. Joshua P. Starr Superintendent of Schools

D

ear Families,

All of us in the Stamford Public Schools are driven by our mission to prepare each and every student for higher education and success in the 21^st century. As an organization, the Stamford Public Schools is uniquely positioned to thrive while public education nationwide is at a serious crossroads.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has illuminated the inequities of urban public education. This legislation has forced us to better analyze our data and to ensure we provide for the needs of those children who are not achieving. Yet NCLB is an inadequate measure of the skills our children need as they enter a world that is becoming increasingly complex.

Today’s educated citizenry must know how to thrive in a world where we are all connected to each other; where people speak multiple languages; where technology provides for unlimited access to information; and where “soft skills” are of paramount importance.

Today, a basic education requires mastery of complex problems, analysis of multiple sources of information, and communication of difficult ideas to wide audiences. Standardized tests do not measure those skills. Although tests such as the CMTs and CAPT enable us to analyze our strengths and weaknesses, they are but one measure of our success. Other measures include school climate, graduation rates, and opportunities for all students to be engaged in a high-quality curriculum.

I continue to be proud and privileged to be the Superintendent of Stamford Public Schools. There are few communities in America that have the kind of intelligence, commitment, willpower, and vision that we do. The question before us now is how we corral the energy, complexity, and opportunities of Stamford so that we do not settle for just going from good to great. We are on a path to go beyond greatness; in Stamford, excellence is the point.

Sincerely,
Joshua P. Starr, Ed.D.