The Greenwood Public School District, reacting to accountability ratings released last week, will begin offering an extended school program Thursday for students who scored basic or minimal on sections of the Mississippi Curriculum Test.
Greenwood School Board members and officials are hoping the after-school remediation sessions, which will be offered at all the district's primary schools, will bolster student achievement.
Half the schools in the district performed below both state and federal expectations.
"It appears that there's a little bit of work we've got to do," School Board Chairman John Johnson said Tuesday.
The extended school program will be funded with nearly $95,000 in federal grant money. The School Board approved the plan Tuesday during its regular meeting.
Most of the grant will pay the 34 teachers who are expected to run the programs, with the rest going to transportation, according to Margie Pulley, the district's director of federal programs.
For the most part, the teachers will be distributed evenly among the schools based on enrollment.
That concerned school board members, who asked if lower-performing schools shouldn't get more help. W.C. Williams Elementary School - which received the lowest rating from the state, Level 1, and failed to meet all three standards under the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind act - will get five teachers, the same number as Bankston Elementary, a "superior" Level 5 school. Threadgill and Davis elementary schools, both Level 2, or "underperforming," will each have six teachers.
"It looks to me like some schools would need something just a little bit more than others," said John Johnson, the school board's chairman. "Let's make sure the money is going where it's needed, and we're doing it not just for the sake of doing it."
Pulley explained that the teacher-student ratio at W.C. Williams would be much lower than at other schools, and there is money available for any necessary adjustments.
"When we start the program Thursday, we'll see where the numbers are," she said. "And wherever the students are, we'll just add teachers. That's what we've always done."
Plus, more money is on the way. Last year, when Greenwood High School was listed for "school improvement" because it did not do well enough on the state Algebra I subject area test, the federal government chipped in with a $79,000 grant for remediation. This year, the high school passed the math standards.
Meanwhile, the schools that missed the federal standards for math or reading and language arts this time will receive similar help from Washington, said Barbara Corbett, the district's director of curriculum and testing.
"These will be target funds that come in, … and they will be allocated to schools in need, not other places," Corbett said.
In addition, the district will administer direct training for staff at sub-standard schools.
The Greenwood district's performance mirrored what happened statewide as half of all Mississippi schools were deemed inadequate by federal standards.
Under the No Child Left Behind act, schools are judged on three standards: math, reading/ language arts and other indicators, which measure graduation rates and improvement. The federal government expects schools to improve proficiency among all classifications of students by 10 percent each year on the way to reaching 100 percent proficiency by the spring of 2014.
If a school doesn't meet federal standards for math or reading/language arts two years in a row, the students there must be given the choice of transferring to another school in the district. Further failure results in other repercussions.
Also Tuesday, the School Board approved:
- Paying Mancuso & Corp. $19,911 to level and refinish the floor of Greenwood High's gym.
- Paying a total of $5,255 to athletic officials to referee ball games during the 2003-2004 school year.
