USD 398 strives toward quality education years ago
By REX WATSON
Superintendent, Peabody-Burns USD 398
At the October board of education meeting, the board voted to approve the extension of the TEEN inter local agreement for the next five years. TEEN stands for Technology Excellence in Education Network and the consortium consists of the following school districts: Centre USD 397, Herington USD 487, Durham-Hillsboro-Lehigh USD 410, Marion-Florence USD 408, and Peabody-Burns USD 398.
The TEEN inter local consortium began about 15 years ago as a means of connecting to offer ITV courses at the member high schools. Because the leaders of the inter local, 15 years ago, chose to install fiber-optic cable between the five member districts, the same network that once was used just for ITV classes is now used for Internet connectivity as well.
The result for Peabody-Burns, some 15 years later, is that we have the ability to offer interactive distance learning courses that we would not otherwise be able to access and we have access to Internet services that are purchased through the consortium at reduced rates. TEEN is a great example of people working together to benefit everyone in the region.
Another topic of conversation at the October board meeting was student achievement. As you may be aware, No Child Left Behind, the federal law reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, includes very specific achievement targets for students in grades three through eight as well as high school.
At Peabody-Burns, we will be meeting as a faculty Friday to review results from last year's state assessment testing and use that data to formulate plans for making improvements to our programs. We also will be looking at individual student-level achievement results to develop specific plans for individual students.
Teachers will be reviewing the state assessment data and individualized learning plans with parents at the upcoming parent/teacher conferences.
By developing strategies that are focused on specific tested learning indicators, both in our programs and for individual students, we hope to see increased achievement across the district.
I would also like to report on another initiative that the district has undertaken this year. In addition to mandatory mentoring for new teachers, we have begun a New Teacher Induction program.
All Peabody-Burns teachers who are new to the district or new to the profession will be meeting with the administrative team once each nine weeks to discuss issues that are specific to the district as well as issues that all professional educators encounter.
In October we will meet as a group to discuss preparation for parent/teacher conferences as well as planning and preparation for quality instruction.
In December we will explore the impact of a positive classroom environment.
During the spring semester we will look at instructional techniques that engage students as well as professional responsibilities.
As a district, we spend a considerable amount of time recruiting staff members to teach our students and we are hopeful that this investment, during a teacher's first year of employment, will help us to retain the best teachers possible in our classrooms.
