Education needs to focus on teaching the basic principles of math, science, English, and social studies. We then need educators to take students to the next level of applying these concepts to projects and problem solving. We need to recognize the individual talent of each student and help the students to find and cultivate their passion. We need to develop critical thinkers and lifelong learners. We need to make sure we are not just teaching to the state test. We need to strive to be more than proficient. We need to master the basic concepts. We need to do this by achieving early literacy.
Our students need to be at a minimum, proficient in reading by third grade testing. The 2021-2022 third grade ELA proficiency score was 20.9% and the high school ELA proficiency score was 30.9%. This is not acceptable. We need to closely monitor the Science of Reading Program to assess for efficacy for all students. We need to support our teachers in the continued implementation of this program. We may need to look to churches and businesses in the community to provide volunteers to help with literacy practice. If students are behind on early literacy, they may never catch up. We must emphasize the power of reading to students, so that they are motivated to practice reading. Reading opens the mind to the all the wonders of the universe. We must engage parents to read with their children at home daily during these formative years.
With the increased availability of Ed Choice monies, we need to offer a competitive program that stands up to high performing district, private and charter schools. We may need to examine the curriculums of other successful schools and programs such as the homeschooling curriculums and the classical curriculum. We may need to try to adopt principles from micro schools such as a student who reads at grade level but is accelerated in math be allowed to take a math class at the student’s skill level rather than grade level. We need to improve our college remediation score on the ACT. The remediation score in 2021 was 9.3%. We also need to make sure that we are not letting the special education students fall behind. While there were gap improvements on the 2022-23 report card, the proficiency scores in ELA and mathematics were not met at 4th, 8th, or high school levels. In addition, our curriculum must teach fact based civics and American history classes to preserve our Republic for years to come and to promote patriotism. We need to make sure students are aware of other life opportunities besides college enrollment. We need to make sure our trade school partnership offers adequate availability for our students in their desired program. You should not graduate high school unprepared for the next stage in your life whether it be the work force, the military, a trade, or college enrollment.