Academy program to expand in Helena
Helena-West Helena School District leaders are pleased with the test results from the district's first-year Academy of Excellence pilot program at J.F. Wahl Elementary.
As a result of achievement levels that in many cases exceeded state and Phillips County area averages, the district is expanding its academy pilot program this year. Last school year, there was one academy class per grade in kindergarten through sixth. That is being increased to two classes per grade for the 2017-18 school year.
The academy is a college-preparatory program that emphasizes project-based learning in science and social studies, a minimum of four field trips per year as opposed to two, and at least six parent-teacher conferences per year. The program is open to all families who are receptive to the more rigorous instruction and increased parent involvement, regardless of a pupil's past academic record, according to district leaders.
The goal of the academy is to have pupils prepared for success in pre-Advanced Placement and Advanced Placement courses in junior high and high school.
"Rigorous instruction plus complete parental involvement is a powerful combination," Jewel Hamilton, principal at Wahl, said in a statement about the academy.
Superintendent John Hoy said the academy and its college-preparatory emphasis creates an educational option within the district.
"We had been losing students to schools that touted those kinds of programs and we realized it was something we could absolutely offer ourselves," he said.
In English, 84.78 percent of academy pupils in grades three through six scored at ready or better levels on the ACT Aspire exam this spring, topping the national (72 percent) and state (72.32 percent) averages as well as averages in Helena-West Helena district overall, Barton-Lexa, Marvell-Elaine and KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy.
In math, the Helena-West Helena Academy of Excellence pupils averaged 50.9 percent, falling short of the state (56.97 percent) and national (55.75 percent) averages but topping neighboring school districts and the local charter school.
Meeting highlights LR district's gains
Little Rock School District Superintendent Mike Poore used last week's public meeting about the state-control of the school system to highlight some of the district's recent accomplishments and new features.
Top among those were the districtwide improvements at every grade, three through 10, in the English/language arts and math/science categories of the ACT Aspire exams.
Poore said Little Rock is one of only 12 districts in the state to show the systemwide grade-by-grade gains in achievement in 2017 over the 2016 results. The neighboring Pulaski County Special district is another.
Increases in writing results are particularly remarkable, Poore said, because they indicate that students are reading and reasoning.
The achievement gains occurred, he added, at a time when the district has cut $41 million in expenses over three years. That includes $11 million that was cut for the current school year, including the closing of three campuses and the reconfiguring of a fourth.
LR schools move to replace policies
The Little Rock School District is in the midst of replacing all of its existing policies with model policies put together by the Arkansas School Boards Association.
Superintendent Mike Poore and his staff have sent to Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key for a second and final reading of the model policies for use in the district. The recommended policies come with the stipulation that the district leaders and the district's Community Advisory Board will evaluate and modify the policies to meet the specific needs of the district. Those modifications also would be submitted to the commissioner as they are developed.
As commissioner, Key acts as the school board for the Little Rock district, which is managed by the state without a locally elected school board. A school board typically enacts policies guiding the operation of a school system.
"[Little Rock School District] policies are out-dated," district leaders wrote to Key. "Adoption of the [Arkansas School Boards Association] Model Policies will made the [Little Rock School District] more consistent with other districts across the state. Further, [Arkansas School Boards Association] updates policies multiple times a year with the law changes and court rulings."
The proposed policies exceed 400 pages that are divided into eight sections: governance; administration; licensed personnel; students; curriculum and instruction; school, home and community relations; business and financial management; and classified personnel.
Metro on 08/27/2017