At its meeting on Jan. 15, the Board of Education approved the appointment of Evan Bartelheim as the new Director of Assessment, Research, and Evaluation.
The district's current Director, Dr. Maureen Bradford, will retire from SMMUSD at the end of this month. Dr. Bradford has served with the district for thirty-eight years.
Bartelheim comes to SMMUSD from the Las Virgenes Unified School District, where he has been serving as the Director of Instruction for the past two years. Prior to that, he served as an administrator for the Regional Occupational Program (ROP) with the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Coordinator for the Gardena-Carson Education and Career Center with LAUSD, ROP and Career Advisor with LAUSD, and Instructional Designer/Instructor at a K-12 educational software company. As Director, Mr. Bartelheim provided support and leadership for site administration in the implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and preparation for Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBAC), coordinated the administration of districtwide standardized testing, served as liaison to local and federal accountability agencies, and wrote and monitored district grants.
Bartelheim takes a student-centered approach to leading, incorporating best pedagogical practices into his decision-making and professional development planning. He employs his passion for research and deep understanding of instruction and learning to help make student achievement data accessible and actionable for district and site administrators. His background in secondary school programs makes him well-versed in what it means for students to be both college- and career-ready. His former colleagues describe him as an excellent collaborator, perceptive, reflection-oriented, and a catalyst for others' creativity.