Board members of the Oktibbeha County School District heard a fairly grim evaluation Monday night of East Oktibbeha County Elementary and High schools.
The report was given by two members of the Mississippi Department of Education”s Office of School Improvement. They gave their report to the board, school district administrators and several teachers who attended the public business meeting.
Department of Education representatives Velma Jenkins and Laura Jones made the report. Jones explained that the two schools on the east side were evaluated because they are at risk of failing or failing. Last year, the two schools on the west side were evaluated for similar reasons, but these schools made improvements over the course of the year.
A new state law stipulates that a school that fails for three consecutive years will become a New Start School after the third year. East High has failed for one year and must improves its status, which is based on student test results.
Jones said the district is not failing, but the threat is that it will lose its accreditation if the individual schools don”t improve.
“More likely, what we are looking at now is withdrawing the district”s accreditation,” Jones said. “That means no extra curricular activities at all. In our state, it doesn”t take long when a school can”t play ball that a community gets it together.”
Jenkins, who was part of the six-person team to evaluate the two schools, gave particulars of the reports.
A major challenge at both East Elementary and East High was that instruction was primarily teacher-centered and textbook-based rather than based on the Mississippi curriculum on which students are tested. At both schools, assessments were not used to guide how information is taught or to determine if students are comprehending the material. Also at both schools, instruction and classroom assessments were made at low Depth of Knowledge levels, which means students were not being challenged to think critically or evaluate but to answer more factual questions.
At the elementary school, a final challenge was a limited focus on meeting individual student needs.
Other major challenges at the high school were that the principal and assistant principal when the evaluation were made were not focused on instruction, and instructional issues were left up to individual teachers.
“There was more emphasis on discipline than student achievement,” Jenkins said.
Other challenges at the high school were no School Improvement Plan in place, and data was not used to plan, monitor or revise curriculum and assessments. Both schools were challenged to differentiate instruction, which means to consider individual student test results and tailor the education to that child”s needs.
“Teachers need to analyze data at the classroom level for individualized instruction,” Jenkins said.
Major strengths at the high school were a safe and orderly school environment with good discipline, and adequate teaching supplies and materials for teachers. Major strengths at the elementary school were a collaborative working environment with teachers and leaders, an identified group of leaders in the school, and adequate teaching supplies and materials.
Covington more than once drew attention to the fact that this evaluation was made in September, and many changes have been made since that time.
“That was then. Do you have a report for now?” he asked.
The Office of School Improvement is continuing to work with these schools and the district to meet the challenges and improve education at these schools.
“The way we”ll find out whether or not we”ve (succeeded) is when the kids take the test this spring and we see the scores this fall,” Jones said.
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