Arkansas Board of Education members like what they hear about efforts in the Forrest City School District to raise student achievement, particularly at three state-labeled academically distressed schools.
"Optimistic," "marvelous job," "positive culture" and "a whole new world" were among the words and phrases applied to the 2,668-student district by Department of Education staff members in a report Friday to the Education Board's special committee on academically distressed schools.
Richard Wilde, the Education Department's school-improvement unit program manager, told the committee that "a lot positive is going on there."
The compliments come after three of the Forrest City district's five schools were identified by the state in 2014 and again this year as academically distressed because less than half of students at the schools scored at proficient levels on state math and literacy exams over a three-year period.
The schools -- Lincoln School of Excellence for grades five and six; Forrest City Junior High and Forrest City High School -- are among 22 academically distressed schools statewide, including six of the 48 Little Rock School District campuses. The Education Board assumed control of the Little Rock district and dismissed the locally elected board in January because of dissatisfaction with efforts at the six campuses.
Tiffany Hardrick, Forrest City's first-year superintendent, described for the Education Board committee the efforts to put in place a kindergarten-through-12th grade curriculum based on the Common Core State Standards and includes both student remediation and acceleration components. The district also adopted a system of conducting interim testing throughout the school year and holding quarterly "data night" sessions at which faculty members analyzed the results from the interim tests and identified the lessons and skills that need to be retaught to students.
Other initiatives focused on improving the climate and culture of the schools and revamping the district's administration to make it more efficient and better at customer service.
A native of Forrest City and graduate of the school system she now heads, Hardrick is a former Memphis teacher and principal and a founder of an all-boys charter school post-Hurricane Katrina. Most recently, she was an assistant superintendent in Newark, N.J.
She said she has worked with the Forrest City board as well as the Education Department to be innovative and aggressive this year.
"We recognize that there is work we still need to do, but we do believe we are on the right track for our first set of goals."
Wilde said Hardrick and the district are actively recruiting and hiring staff members who have knowledge and experience in the school turnaround process. He also said the School Board has a sense of urgency about improving the schools but has stopped short of micromanaging the district.
He also noted the district's efforts to develop teacher leadership as well as the new curriculum and interim tests.
The next step is to verify that the written curriculum is the taught curriculum, he said.
"We're optimistic that the schools will demonstrate, based on the interim assessments, higher scoring at the end of the year," Wilde said.
"If you take a look at the interim assessments, those are actually showing some student progress. Typically, you don't see a lot of progress in the first year when you are implementing new curriculum and new systems. There is a lot of positive going on there," he said.
Zrano Bowles, who also works in the Education Department's school-improvement unit, told the Education Board that the Forrest City district has done a "marvelous job" with its federal School Improvement Grant, in part by hiring a superintendent, a principal and a school-improvement specialist with proven records for boosting low-performing schools.
Janie Hickman, also on the state Education Department team working with the district, said school and district staff members are adhering to and close to completing all the steps in their improvement plans. They've also assembled evidence of their work.
"There is work that still needs to be done," Hickman said in regard to collaborative planning of instructional units, developing tests for before and after lessons, making lessons more rigorous, and raising expectations for students and teachers.
"The awareness is now there -- on the part of teachers as well as students -- that progress is possible," she said. "If you have ever been to the high school before this year and saw what it was like, you need to go visit. It's a whole new world."
In response to questions, Joey Astin, president of the Forrest City School Board, told the committee that his board has been united in support of Hardrick and has challenged her with resolving the academic and financial problems in the district.
"We're not looking back; we're looking forward," Astin said. "We're problem-solvers. We are trying to address the academic issues we have in our district plus the social challenges that are presented to us, as well, in the Delta."
The district was previously labeled as being in fiscal distress. It has been working with school district finance consultant Norman Hill to help the district with declining enrollment to remain stable, Astin said.
State Education Board member Vicki Saviers of Little Rock, chairman of the academic-distress committee, told Hardrick and Astin that the Education Board wants to help academically distressed schools.
"We're pulling for you," Saviers said. "You have the opportunity in Forrest City to show the rest of the Delta that you can pull up your bootstraps and get it done."
Metro on 05/17/2015