Since Dr. Montrell Greene took the helm of the Greenwood School District in April, one of his primary goals has been raising the letter-grade ratings for the district’s schools.
Now, changes loom in the way Mississippi calculates the grades.
Beginning next fall, the state Department of Education will rate districts on a different formula for its accountability model.
Greene briefed the school board on some of the changes during the board’s meeting Tuesday.
He said the district has already recalculated the district’s scores from last year using the new model. Overall, district grades would’ve stayed about the same, though there were some slight fluctuations, Greene said.
“It gives us an idea, using last year’s numbers, where we would be,” Greene said.
The first-year superintendent has said he wants all the schools to be rated B or above on the A-to-F scale the state uses. Presently, only one school is at that level, Bankston Elementary, which has an A rating.
One of the big changes in the way scores will be calculated is that schools will receive extra credit for improving the test scores of students in the bottom 25 percent. At Greenwood High School, for example, improvements in the bottom quarter of students would count for 20 percent of the school’s grade.
Greene said he liked the change. He said the focus under the old model had been on moving up students who were scoring just below a higher grade, such as proficient or advanced.
“You have to reach all the way down to make sure you’re not just grabbing students that are on the bubble,” Greene said. “You have to make sure you’re growing all students.”
Greene also said that the state will now only count four-year high school graduation rates. Previously, the state had taken both four- and five-year rates into its calculations.
Though daily attendance figures will not be measured under the new model, Greene also highlighted attendance rates for both students and teachers as an area the district could improve.
Average daily attendance “is not exactly where we want it,” Greene said. “Our goal is 95 percent of teachers, staff and students. Some schools are there, some schools are not. This is something we monitor every week.”
Students at several schools were already exceeding that goal, including at W.C. Williams Elementary, with more than 99 percent attendance, and Davis Elementary, with nearly 98 percent.
Average daily attendance for faculty and staff, according to figures presented by Greene at the meeting, were lower. No school met Greene’s goal of 95 percent. The closest was Greenwood Middle School, where an average of 94.3 percent of employees were at school each day.
Prior to Tuesday’s session, several administrators of the city district showed a keen interest in an article published in that day’s Commonwealth about comments Robert Strebeck, the conservator for the Leflore County School District, made about the county district’s bloated payroll and other problems. They passed around a copy of the newspaper, but the issue did not come up in the meeting.
Also Tuesday:
nThe board authorized Greene to pursue the license of a teacher who abandoned a position with the district.
The matter was discussed in executive session, and additional information about the teacher was not released other than he or she allegedly left in breach of contract.
nThe board approved spending plans for three grants the district will receive this year.
Because W.C. Williams Elementary was an F-rated school in 2012 (it is now rated C) and Greenwood High School is an F-rated school this year, both are eligible for $19,000 school improvement grants from the Mississippi Department of Education.
The district will also receive a $50,000 Rural Education Achievement Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The federal program seeks to improve instruction in low-income and rural districts.
nContact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
