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We Can Make Clay Schools Tops in State, Leader Says Superintendent Outlines Program to Improve the District's Standing.

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 August 2005, 15:01 CDT

Being among the top 10 school districts in Florida is not good enough. Superintendent David Owens wants Clay County schools to vault to the top of the top 10.

So he has challenged principals and other school administrators to make another "quantum leap" and make Clay students the highest achievers in the state.

"We are in the bottom part of the top 10 . . . I think we ought to be at the top of the list," he told them at their annual dinner meeting Tuesday. "Other counties are improving also, the whole state is, so we are not moving farther up.

"We've got the leadership, we've got the teachers, we've got the community support. The conditions are right . . . to get off that plateau, to get on up faster," he said. "It's the best thing for the kids."

Owens said he planned to create a task force of sorts this fall - - composed of teachers, administrators and community members -- to take a hard look at the district.

"We need to look at where we are, where we want to be and how to get there," he said.

Earlier Tuesday, Clay County was cited as one of 15 Florida school districts to get an A grade from the state Department of Education this year and one of 10 districts to receive that highest grade four years in a row.

The state Department of Education has been calculating district grades since 2002, but this year made them public for the first time.

The state uses the same criteria to grade districts as it uses with individual schools: student performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, learning gains over the previous year of the overall student population and the lowest 25 percent of the student population. Also, learning gains of students with disabilities and limited English proficiency were included in the calculation.

When individual 2005 school grades were released in June, based on FCAT results, 18 Clay schools got an A, eight a B, three a C and two a D. The two schools given a D actually earned a C, but a state rule required they be dropped a full letter grade because students in at least one demographic category failed to improve in a particular FCAT subject area two years in a row.

Owens' mission is not only to improve those school grades. He said he also wants to better prepare Clay students for college and the workplace and better prepare the United States to compete with other countries that have stricter educational systems.

"It is scary seeing other nations getting so far more advanced. If we're not careful, they will own us," he said. "We're getting so far behind, particularly in math, science and technology."

Owens had a list of recommendations for Clay educators on how to improve overall student achievement. No. 1, he said, was transforming students into better readers.

"We have got to do a better job teaching reading, and not just through language arts [but in all subjects]," he said. "Reading is becoming more complex. . . . If you can't read the manual, you can't fix the problem."

Also, Owens said there should be more "rigor and relevance" in the classroom -- higher expectations set for students, and curricula more relevant to their world -- and more students in math, science and technology programs.

In addition, he wants educators to more closely examine test data to determine why certain students don't excel.

"See where the problems areas are, and have the courage to deal with it," he said.

Tackling learning problems among potential ninth-grade dropouts, and students' tendency to view their senior year as "kicking back" time, also are on Owens' list.

"I could go on and on. I challenge all of you to get passionate about finding better ways of reaching our kids," he said. "Our kids deserve it. And we need to do it for those United States of America."beth.cravey@jacksonville.com,(904) 278-9487, extension 14

Source: Florida Times Union

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