Now that we have passed the midway point of the school year, I want to share with you the progress we have made as a district in the areas that the administrative team and I have identified as our key focus areas for 2009-2010. These three broad areas are:
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Student Learning
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Instructional Leadership
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Continuous Improvement
In terms of student learning, we have put a greater focus on using a variety of assessments, including the use of the 4-Sight exams, which are aligned with the standards for the PSSA tests that our students take annually. With the feedback provided by these assessments, we are able to provide more accurate and timely feedback to students and to use this feedback to monitor and adjust our instructional activities. Ultimately, our goal, with the use of this data and feedback, is to improve overall student achievement as measured by both our PSSA scores and our own local assessments.
In the area of Instructional Leadership, each building principal this year has developed specific action plans that reflect the three focus areas of the district: student achievement, instructional leadership, and continuous improvement. While each of the general goal areas is consistent across the district, each building has developed goals specific to the improvement of student achievement in each of their buildings, based on needs identified within each building. As a way of monitoring each building’s progress on these goals, we hold monthly Instructional Leadership meetings to discuss what is happening in each building.
In the area of continuous improvement, we are always, not only in the area of student learning, looking for ways to improve the overall operation of the Daniel Boone Area School District. Specifically, we have done several noteworthy things this year that have positively impacted the operation of our district. A few examples are:
ü We have implemented our new web page to improve communication with parents
ü We have developed a support staff employee handbook and are working on a similar handbook for all professional staff for implementation in 2010-2011
ü We have implemented a district wide recycling program
ü We have implemented the use of the 4 Sight Assessments to help provide ongoing instructional feedback to students and teachers
These are a few of the more important initiatives that we are pursuing this year to help improve student learning and the overall operation of our school district. Your continued support of our efforts will help us continue to strive for excellence in everything we do.
Sincerely,
Dr. Gary L. Otto
Superintendent of Schools