Despite looming budget cuts, leaders in Beaufort County’s public schools will work in the coming year to keep more of their students in school and expand efforts to ensure the system’s youngest students are prepared for more advanced work.

The Beaufort County Board of Education on Friday heard a report from school Superintendent Don Phipps on progress during the 2010-2011 school year toward meeting seven goals established by the school board.

And Phipps outlined new plans for continuing to meet those goals during the upcoming school year.

Much of the effort during the current school year has focused on creating teams in each school to evaluate various test data to look for strengths and weaknesses in instruction in each school, Phipps said.

Based on that data, faculty and staff in each school have worked to create intervention and remediation plans for students who need additional help, he said.

For the past year, assessments have been conducted at least three times for each kindergarten student in the county’s public schools. These assessments have helped teachers identify those students who are having trouble with their school work and intervene while there’s still time to make a difference, he said.

In addition to these assessments, teachers in a number of schools are using learning stations to provide individual instruction to students who either need remedial help or who are prepared for more advanced school work, Phipps told the board.

“Instead of feeding everybody from the same spoon and just reaching the middle, teachers are reaching the middle and reaching the upper and lower levels,” Phipps said. “It’s a different style of management in the classroom.”

Phipps said he hopes that more teachers will incorporate learning stations into their classrooms in the 2011-2012 school year.

During the coming year, Phipps plans to expand assessments and individual instruction to more public school students in the coming year.

Beaufort County’s public school leaders have taken steps in recent years to improve the graduation rate, which rose significantly for the 2009-2010 school year, and reduce the number of students who drop out of school before earning their diplomas.

But, Phipps told the board on Friday, he and other public school leaders will expand their efforts in the coming school year to keeping more students in school instead of dropping out.

Phipps plans to hold a Graduation Summit with school personnel and interested members of the community to help middle and high school faculty and staff develop plans for students identified as being at risk of dropping out of school.

He also plans to interview students who have left school to help school leaders better understand these students’ reasons for leaving school before they have graduated.

And he plans to develop a mentoring program to link interested members of the community with students who need guidance.

“The impact will be fewer drop-outs and higher graduation rates,” he said.

In 2010, the most recent year for which data is available, the four-year graduation rate in the county’s public schools was 71 percent, up nearly nine percent from the four-year graduation rate of 62.2 percent in 2009. The four-year graduation rate in 2007 was 62.8 percent, and, in 2008, it was 62.2 percent.

Phipps also plans to implement a parent advisory committee make up of parent representatives from each school to meet quarterly to address concerns about the public school system.

Other new initiatives for the coming school year include a survey of all seventh, ninth and 11th grade students to help identify safety concerns; an update of the school system’s crisis management plan and the installation of a hotline that students can use to report bullying and criminal behavior.

Phipps also plans to post podcasts to its website to allow people to access important information and expand other information available on the school system’s website.

Phipps also said that local school leaders will continue to strive to improve performance by Beaufort County’s public school students on standardized tests.

Data on student performance for the 2010-2011 school year is expected in July, he said.

The seven goals established by the school board are as follows:

• Beaufort County School students will demonstrate a high level of academic achievement;
• All Beaufort County School students will be educated in a safe, comfortable and healthy environment;
• Beaufort County Schools will recruit, train and retain quality teachers and administrators;
• Beaufort County Schools faculty and support staff will demonstrate competence and expertise in their assigned area of service;
• Beaufort County Schools will demonstrate fiscal responsibility and accountability with the resources provided by various revenues;
• Beaufort County Schools will have service-oriented, inviting, friendly and cooperative relationships with stakeholder groups, and
• The school district will strive to develop friendly, sound and mutually beneficial relationships with other governmental agencies and community groups working towards the betterment of the education system.

Board Chairman Robert Belcher appointed a four member committee comprised of Teressa Banks, Eltha S. Booth, Mike Isbell and Cindy Winstead to prepare a written evaluation of Phipps’ performance during the 2010-2011 school year based on progress towards meeting the board’s goals.

In other business, the board approved four field trip requests scheduled for June by groups at Washington and Northside high schools to attend a cheerleading camp, football clinic and Future Farmers of America convention and camp.

All school board members attended the meeting.