I emphasized that while we have made great progress, our work continues. We must and we will remain focused on the five goals of our Design for Excellence strategic plan. Our focus on continuous improvement is central to our shared vision of every school as a thriving, dynamic and inspiring educational environment that produces self-directed learners with 21st-century skills.
To view the full article, please visit http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/search.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-10-19-0195.html. Here are some highlights from the article:
Chesterfield County Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome knows he has to make a good school system better. Taking it from good to great, he would say. He also knows that to improve the system requires change, and change often brings conflict, especially when the system is perceived to be successful, he said. "I just want people to understand that we can never be satisfied with our progress, and the greatest barrier to that is resistance to change," he said in a recent interview…
…Newsome said he's happy with the progress made during his two-year tenure. The 64 schools are fully accredited for the first time under the state's Standards of Learning, and the school division has made Adequate Yearly Progress, a federal No Child Left Behind measure of student progress, for the past three years. But he acknowledges that some areas need improvement. More students, especially minority students, need to take more rigorous courses, and the achievement gaps need to be closed. The Design for Excellence six-year strategic plan adopted last year lays out achievement goals and plans addressing the areas in need of improvement…
…Schools need to improve in a time when federal and state accountability systems are asking teachers and students to do more, Newsome said. But school districts are trying to do more with the same agrarian school calendar and the same number of instructional hours, he said. That needs to change, but some bold actions are hard for people to accept, Newsome said…
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