How Cajon Valley Is Killing it

The Cajon Valley Union School District has nailed personalized learning. The approach gives more control to students and lets them build on their own strengths with the help of technology tools and a flexible curriculum. This week, hosts Scott Lewis and Laura Kohn talked to David Miyashiro, superintendent of Cajon Valley, about how the district is working to meet individual students' needs. Miyashiro also discussed his district's refugee demographic. He said roughly 900 refugee children entered the Cajon Valley District last year. "The newcomers to our district and the diversity of our community really add to the experience of every student and every person in our city," he said. "I think the strength in diversity has made us stronger, has allowed us to open our eyes to bigger things that just standardized test scores and I think we're better because of it." Lewis and Kohn also dug in to the layoffs happening at the San Diego Unified School District. About 1,500 district employees will be cut, but not much is known of what comes after and who will take on all the responsibilities of the educators and other staffers who are being pushed out. Number of the Week 13: That's the number of meetings students who sign up for TED-Ed Clubs go through. The meetings help students identify and research ideas, then put them into a quick TED-style talk. What’s Working Community: Miyashiro said getting city and community leaders together to talk about important issues is what works best when building strong schools and neighborhoods. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.