Tuesday, February 12, 2002 Following are some of the SchoolMatch team's recommendations to improve the Polk County School System. Consider Appointing Superintendent: (See related story) Improve Reading: ". . . a significant problem in student reading skills within the district beyond grade 1. . . (also need) greater consistency of programs/adoptions across grades within individual schools and among schools . . .." Deal with "Troubled" Schools: ". . . a small number of schools have a history of low performance levels . . . provide a fresh start with a change of culture . . . For these schools, consider reassigning all staff and require applications for new staff. Improve Classroom Instruction: ". . . a wide disparity in how available instructional time is utilized by teaching staff . . . create an instructional audit team or teams to systematically analyze how much instruction goes on and its quality." Consider instituting "robust monitoring" of teaching at all schools. Push Good Programs Everywhere: High-quality programs "not observed to be pervasive across the county, particularly in schools where the data reflected low levels of student achievement and students were observed to not be highly engaged in meaningful learning tasks . . . district office must develop a systematic plan to replicate and support the expansion of effective best practice approaches across all schools." Improve Staff Training/Succession/Hiring/Diversity Plans: ". . . vast numbers of administrative positions may go vacant, creating both continuity issues and diminished leadership . . . lack of (hiring) selectivity . . . expand college campus recruiting . . . general lack of centrally organized and financed staff development activities . . . need district programs promoting leadership skills . . . minority staffing of teachers is not proportional to student population." Improve Consistency of Technology: ". . . degree to which a school acquires technology is highly dependent upon the individual efforts of the building principal . . . develop a plan to provide each school with sufficient technology to ensure frequent access and use by students. . . ." |
