Officials within the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District have been working to help improve students’ test performance and other aspects of their school experience.
Third-grade students are required to pass an assessment test before they can be promoted to fourth grade. Assistant Superintendent Kenneth Pulley said the district has been working with parents of third-graders throughout the year to improve the results.
“Last summer, we analyzed data, and we recognized that too many students failed the assessment for the first time,” he said.
They have meetings with parents of third-graders and send home strategies parents can use to help their children outside the classroom, Pulley said.
He also added that about 210 students are enrolled in dual credit programs for Mississippi Valley State University and Mississippi Delta Community College. Upon passing these courses, students earn credit toward a college degree once completing high school. The district pays for both the credit hours and the textbooks so that students from any financial background can take advantage of the offer.
At each high school, the district is working with students to prepare for the ACT and to ensure that all students who enter the ninth grade can graduate in four years. “Testing season is approaching, and we’re just in the process of analyzing data of each school to identify strengths and weaknesses to apply certain action,” Pulley said.
In the department of transportation, Chief Talece Hudson said all bus drivers are going to be CPR-certified, and they’re looking at ways to train their staff and nurses. They are also working on purchasing new buses to ensure that students can go to and from various school activities safely.
Dr. Mary Brown, the superintendent, said the district is also working with student advisory committees from the high schools to get a new perspective on what needs to be improved in those schools.
She said that they recently met with the committees, which consisted of 10 students from each high school. All of the seniors communicated that they have received acceptance letters from multiple colleges, and Brown said she was glad that the district can provide opportunities to let students tour college campuses.
“It puts us at ease that we can put them in college,” she said.
The district has also put out a monthly newspaper called “The Vision.”
“We have Facebook, but this is just another way of getting the word out to the parents about the great things that are happening,” Brown said.
•Contact Kerrigan Herret at 581-7233 or kherret@
gwcommonwealth.com.
