Sunnyside Unified School District

Open Education Resources (OER) adoption is a game-changer

Transitioning several core curricula for math, science, social studies and ELA

In 2015, we began a comprehensive redesign of our core curricula serving all grade levels. In the previous five years, having explored both traditional content providers as well as a variety of emergent edtech startups, our leadership team arrived at the best of both worlds, identifying those tha...

Teacher video study groups (VSGs) help foster student agency and academic identity

Communities of Practice, or Network Improvement Communities, facilitate deep personal and peer reflection around video clips filmed informally by teachers

Teachers use Video Study Groups (VSGs) to reflect on instructional decisions and moves that improve clarity around learning and learning opportunities. At the core of this process are deliberate moves that help students learn to learn, thus building both agency and identity. Peer feedback and sel...

Graduate Profile delivers a new level of coherence

Articulating a clear vision for everything from curriculum, to business and operations, human capital, community relations, and other areas of our strategic plan

Our Graduate Profile clearly and coherently identifies the five competencies we expect our students to master before they graduate from our learning organization:

1. Knowledge for learning
2. Knowledge for impact
3. Creative confidence
4. Critical consciousness
5. Self...

Improving K-3 literacy with network improvement science

Refining and strengthening structures to identify, test, adapt, and more fully implement evidence-based instructional practices

We're working with two elementary schools to identify a specific problem and opportunity in the way we work toward literacy outcomes (particularly around writing), map factors that may contribute to differences in outcomes, and try a series of improvements in that area. Leadership teams and teach...

Leading the way in the fourth industrial revolution with College and Career Academies

Partnering to create pathways of excellence and offering programs to meet the needs of every learner.

High school has changed, and so has the entire landscape of college and careers. Today’s high school students are no longer stuck with one career for the rest of their lives. They seek out learning experiences to help them decide what’s next and pivot in and out of careers to maximize their incom...

Encouraging students to take action when solutions for complex problems are within their reach

Students engage with elected officials to plan and build a pedestrian-activated crosswalk to improve safety and walkability

Driven by their commitment to social justice, students from Sunnyside High School’s student council collaborated with the office of Vice Mayor Richard Fimbres and the City of Tucson Department of Transportation (TDOT) to shed light to the problem of pedestrian safety on the city’s south side. Stu...