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Photos/Tom Brooks
Local school officials recently met with representatives from the Center for Leadership in School Reform. Above left, Bobbi Vogel of
CLSR; Pam Sosler of Perry, Ohio; Leslie McNaughton, an elementary school principal from Hilliard, Ohio; Paula Gault, assistant to the
superintendent; Melinda Ness, gifted coordinator; Ann Ball, an elementary teacher from Phillipsburg, N.J.; Don Dyck, assessment leader
for CLSR; and Superintendent Dr. Allene Magill. Right, Rhenida Rennie, Debbie Rondem and Linda Lang of Forsyth County Schools.
Raising academic standards - step by step
From the Office of the
Superintendent
Forsyth County Schools
Beginning two years ago, the
leadership of Forsyth County
Schools, in concert with scores of
teachers, began the task of redefin
ing academic expectations for its
students. The process, one similar
in many respects to that being
undertaken by states and school
districts across the nation, utilizes
validated, research-based findings
to chart the course toward school
improvement. At the heart of the
process is the determination of
what students truly need to know
and be able to do in order to func
tion successfully as international
citizens of tomorrow. It requires
the careful examination and scruti
ny of standards of performance as
recommended by professional edu
cational organizations such as the
National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics and the International
Reading Association as well as
those expectations of our own state
Department of Education as pre
scribed in the QCC. Ultimately, the
process requires the
merging of what we
know about teach
ing and learning,
what we know of
recommended aca
demic expectations
and what we locally
know and believe
our students need to
be able to do upon
exiting our system.
_ The first step of the process was
the development in 1996-97 of a
grades K-5 skills continuum and a
grades 6-12 essential skills list.
These two locally developed docu-
Inents paralleled the QCC and pro
vided teachers with a comprehen
sive list of skills by grade level of
fall the major content areas. The
hext logical step in the process, the
Standards and Benchmarks initia
tive, begun in the summer of 1998,
:has as its primary goal to go
: beyond the QCC in establishing
: world class standards of perfor
mance for all students.
•; “Having a set of intemationally-
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based standards for all students
will provide the school district v
and its teachers a solid
framework from which
all curriculum
decisions will be
based,” said Dr.
Allene Magill,
Suoerintendent of \ \
OU|JV 1I 11 tVIIVI Vll I VII \ \
Forsyth County \
Schools. “There are no \
throw-away kids in
Forsyth County. In order X \
to be a high achieving \ ''
school system, we must \
clearly define high expecta- \
tions for student learning and \
focus all efforts to supporting stu
dent achievement of these require
ments. Standards require a com
mitment that all students will be
taught a rigorous, world class cur
riculum that will adequately pre
pare them for life in the 21st centu
ry and beyond. You cannot have a
world class school system without
a world class curriculum,” Magill
added.
The Standards and Benchmarks
initiative is bom out of an intent to
use what we know about teaching
<6
Toefay's students
face a world
that will be
challenging and
vastly different..
ent, almost unimaginable.
Advances in technology will i
reshape occupational expectations;
job market changes, driven by both <
the economic well-being of the
United States and by the service I
industry, will be rapid; tomorrow’s
workers are predicted to change
careers five to seven times on an
average. Thus, the business world
wants future job-seekers to not
only have command of mathemat- <
ics and communications skills but <
i also be able to think creatively and
critically, to work cooperatively in
teams in solutions of emerging
problems and be technologically <
competent and adaptable. This
calls upon educators to
re-evaluate the status
uo ant^to ma^e cr * t *’
cal decisions about
what to teach and
\ not teach.”
“There are
many advan
? tages to
d rx n *oi
system ’ s
curricu
lum around
Standards and
y/''' Benchmarks,” said
s' Dawn Souter, curriculum
coordinator for mathematics
and science, “including identifying
gaps in learning, overlaps in learn
ing and areas in which subject
areas can ‘co-teach’ given topics.”
Early intervention on areas of diffi
culty of students “is but one of the
benefits for having established cur
riculum expectations,” said Souter.
Phase I of the Standards and
Benchmarks project, already in
progress, involves teachers from
mathematics, language arts, social
studies, science, foreign language
and fine arts (health teachers will
begin in the summer of 1999)
whose mission is to determine
what will be Forsyth County’s K
-12 content standards and grade
specific benchmarks for each of
eight content areas. These content
standards and the more specific
benchmarks identify what content
must be mastered in a given school
year, per subject. Teachers will be
and learning
and the
future that
our students
will inherit.
“Today’s stu
dents face a
world that
will be chal
lenging and
vastly differ-
accountable for leading students to
the mastery of the benchmarks
assigned to that grade level and/or
course and will be responsible for
introducing and practicing those
benchmarks to be mastered in
future courses or grade levels.
“Over 200 teachers are involved
in this grueling process,” Souter
said. The process calls upon the
teacher representatives to cross ref
erence what they know about
effective practice with multiple
sources of recommendations about
what students should be expected
to know. “They definitely have to
do their homework.” Their efforts
have involved both whole K-12
EDUCATION
group and small grade specific
group discussions in determining
what the students should be able to
do at each level, in each academic
area. Each Standards and
Benchmarks’ work session com
bines the knowledge of teachers
from kindergarten through 12th
grade in making these very impor
tant curriculum decisions.
Participants are not only becoming
more expert in the knowledge of
their field, but they are also learn
ing a great deal about where their
piece fits in the whole K-12 pic
ture.
“This is truly a collaborative
effort,” said Judy Thornton, deputy
superintendent for curriculum and
instruction. “ Participants have
taken their roles in this process
very seriously in order to produce
comprehensive documents that
reflect what we should and will
expect of our students. An added
benefit of the process has been the
enabling of K-12 teachers to work
together, side by side. Suddenly
there has been a greatly enhanced
See STANDARDS, Page 4H
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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS—Sunday, March 28,1888-1
Integrated technology
a must for 21st century
By Ba Hey Mitchell
Forsyth County Schools
Forsyth County Schools is dedi
cated to the integration of technolo
gy into the daily activities of the
classroom. Each classroom
throughout the district has access to
a wealth of educational software
and video programming that can
66
i Technology
behaves differently
than it used to-
99
be utilized by stu
dents and teach
ers to provide for
a technology rich
classroom.
Our vision is for
students to be
prepared for life
in the 21st centu
ry through the use
of computer-based technologies
and telecommunications to access
information and enhance personal
achievement. In order to reach this
goal, it is necessary to guide stu
dents toward technology literacy by
providing opportunities to develop
personal productivity skills and
attain content area knowledge.
Classroom technology promotes
and facilitates an active student
learning environment where stu
dents use classroom computers to
link to real world, relevant topics.
The integration of new and
emerging technologies to advance
curricular objectives is a district
goal. Students will utilize class
room-based technology, Internet
resources and distance learning sys
tems to access, exchange, compile,
analyze and synthesize information.
Technology behaves differently
than it used to. It comes at us faster
now and affects us more powerfully
than before. Students must learn
how to turn technology’s power to
their advantage.
Current emphasis in Forsyth
County Schools will be placed on
the implementation of “model
classrooms” with teachers who are
ready to embrace the technology.
Model classrooms will have a total
of five desktop computers for edu
cational activities and teachers will
attend additional professional
development, concentrating on
integration, teaching methods and
strategies.
Model classroom teachers will
implement the application of
Internet lessons and instructional
material delivery, web-based on-
line testing,
data collection
and e-mail
based feedback
for students.
Model class
room teachers
will maintain a
presence on the
school’s web
page posting examples of quality
work and students will utilize con
ferencing software to collaborate
on interdisciplinary and group pro
jects. Classes will communicate
and share documents and applica
tions in real-time over the school’s
network.
Utilizing the model classroom
implementation, teachers will learn
how to most effectively leverage
the technology to enhance learning.
This will allow the early adopters
to immediately enhance their
instruction and allow the other
teachers to become more comfort
able and better prepared as facilita
tors.
To support the school system’s
technology initiative, instructional
technology specialists have been
assigned in each school to work
with teachers and model best prac
tice, and teaching and learning
strategies for integrating technolo
gy into existing curricula.
Bailey Mitchell is the technology
director for Forsyth County
Schools. For more information, call
Mitchell at (770) 888-3473, ext.
222. Or, visit Forsyth County
Schools on the Internet at
www.forsyth.kl2.ga.us.
PAGE 3H