DCSS Instruction Accountability Committee talks change

ALBANY, Ga. — The Dougherty County School System’s Instruction Accountability Committee met Wednesday afternoon and heard new curriculum director Ufot Inyang lay out his preliminary plans for pulling the district out of its academic doldrums — with special emphasis on ‘accountability’ for administrators and teachers.

“We can’t do business like we used to. Changes are coming,” Inyang said. We are going to tie contract renewals to performance in the future. We are going to use PDPs (professional development plans) as instruments for change — like they are designed to do –which have not been used in the past.

“Our current position is untenable right now. Our future focus is strongly on change and accountability.”

Committee chair Velvet Riggins agreed.

“Everybody from administrators to parents need to be held accountable,” Riggins said.

Inyang said the only hope in improving student test scores and achievement in the DCSS begins with building level administrators and filters down into the classrooms.

“We have some outstanding teachers in this school system,” he said. “But we also have some teachers who strongly need additional help. This is one reason we are restructuring the curriculum department. We want someone from the department in schools every single day to identify the teachers who need help and round them up quickly.

“We are going to monitor instruction. We’ll need a few more people in the department to do it, but we will make it happen. It will be a difficult challenge and we will take action if we don’t see results.”

The committee was also told new student intervention programs were in the works focusing on the areas of reading and math.

Summer intervention for students include elementary math academies, summer school for promotion, a ninth-grade math academy and ninth- and sixth-grade bridge programs.

There will also be summer interventions for teachers including professional development activities, and May and June summer institutes.

Inyang said with the new Common Core Standards coming in August, time and implementation is of the essence because the district cannot continue to lag behind the rest of the state.

With the new common core standards, expectations are much higher, and officials have been warning for months that test scores will be lower.

“We are currently working on intense remediation or enrichment programs for the students who need it, but we still have to figure out how to put it in place,” DCSS Testing Coordinator Renee Bridges said.”