Monday, July 31, 2000
Mason schools buckling down
Officials intent on meeting all state standards
By Jennifer Mrozowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON — Mason City School District's grade as an “effective” district last year will not stop officials from working on a continuous improvement plan for the coming school year.
The continuous improvement plan is not required for schools that passed 26 of the 27 performance standards for the Ohio School District Report Card.
And while Mason passed 26 of those, there's still room for improvement, said Shelly Benesh, the district's public information officer.
One of the areas included in the plan is “continuous progress for students and staff.”
As part of that goal, the district will address its intention to pass the 6th grade reading proficiency test, which was the only standard the district did not meet for the 2000 School District Report Card.
To meet the standard, a minimum of 75 percent of students must pass. Mason missed passing the 6th grade reading proficiency test by a half percentage point.
But that's one half percentage point too much in Mason. “Continuous improvement doesn't end,” Ms. Benesh said. “We hope to pass all 27.”
The district's success, and its plan for improvement, centers on 10 curriculum leaders, Ms. Benesh said.
The 10 leaders are teachers hired to devote their time to curriculum issues in math, science, prekindergarten, language arts, science, social studies and technology.
The program began about three years ago with seven leaders because the district was hiring so many new teachers a year, Ms. Benesh said. This year the district will have hired nearly 80 new teachers, she said.
Mason is adding its 10th leader this school year in social studies for grades 7-12.
“We knew it would be helpful for us as a district,” she said.
The curriculum leaders are charged with mentoring beginning teachers, addressing curriculum issues, model teaching, locating resources and providing professional development opportunities, Ms. Benesh said.
The next step for the continuous improvement process committee is to develop a goal committee to determine strategies and decide if the strategies need to be addressed districtwide or at the building level, says an update Assistant Superintendent Barbara Crist sent to the committee in June.
She and Superintendent Kevin Bright plan to meet with the committee members at the beginning of the school year as they gear up their improvement efforts.
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