Student achievement tops list for district's priorities

Accountability for student achievement will be the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District's primary focus for the 2002-03 school year, school board members and instructional team administrators decided Tuesday.

The board spent nearly six hours with administrators Tuesday for its annual planning work session at the Kenai River Center.

Members brainstormed and discussed a list of 44 topics of concern and interest, ranging from student attrition, grading scales and public relations to nutrition services, distance communication and policy review.

Throughout the day, the group continued to define and evaluate concerns and goals until a final list of four top priorities was established.

Those priorities include improving student performance by reviewing and analyzing data and developing action plans to better prepare students for the high school graduation qualifying exam and benchmark tests.

The district also will focus on making sure the needs of all students are met through remedial and accelerated options for students.

A second priority was district accountability for student performance, which includes mapping and aligning curriculum, adopting a districtwide curriculum plan, integrating technology and vocational training at all grade levels and establishing an assessment system.

Third, the school board maintained the importance of improving the district's public relations both to improve morale in the school system and encourage families to continue using the public schools. Plans for this goal include increasing the presence of school board members and the superintendent in schools, improving district communication and establishing a Kenai Peninsula Teacher Forum to help recruit and retain staff.

Finally, the board stressed the importance of rebuilding vocational and technical education by establishing partnerships with area resources and offering a wide variety of training options for all students in the district.

While these goals do not encompass all the tasks the school board and district central office will tackle in the coming year, members stressed that the goals will provide focus for use of resources such as time, money and energy.

The district instructional team, which includes superintendent Donna Peterson and a number of other upper-level administrators, will work with the goals and bring action plans for each to the school board at the board's next meeting.

The school board is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. July 6 in the assembly chambers of the Borough Administration Building in Soldotna.