Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Evaluations Show GMS Strong Points

Plenty of strong points were found at Gurdon Middle School by the North Central Association's Comprehensive Outcome Education team.

The NCA/COE team evaluated all three of Gurdon's schools recently and sent in its findings, both in strengths and recommendations.

Each school was evaluated in four areas: Parent and Community Involvement; School Climate; High Expectations; and Monitoring and Assessment of Student Achievement.

In the area of Parent and Community Involvement, GMS's strengths include the intent to identify and publicize classroom activities (such as with the column Classy Moments), special programs and events on a regular basis.

The school was also lauded for its effort in providing for staff development in parent relations, which was termed a positive move in creating an effective parent/community involvement program.

GMS also has established a "Morning Greeters" program, the NCA/COE team admired.

The team, though, recommended GMS's administration and faculty become involved in collaborating on developing curriculum/instructional guidelines and in communicating these guidelines to the public.

It also suggested an "Adopt A School" program be strongly considered as a means of encouraging greater community/school involvement.

The third idea from the team was a community resource file of volunteers be developed, maintained and utilized. These volunteers, it was suggested, should receive meaningful recognition for their efforts.

It was also recommended the administration and faculty be provided time for visiting personnel of area schools with effective community/parent involvement programs.

Turning to the area of school climate, GMS was praised for its use of staggering bells for grade dismissal between classes. The team said this promotes a safe, orderly environment for the students.

The use of class projects and student art to bring ownership of the building by the students was also termed an asset by the team.

The final strength the team found was the use of a "Caught Being Good" program. This program provides the means for raising self- esteem in students.

There were only two recommendations in the area of school climate. The team said the time line could be reviewed annually to show improvement and change if needed; and the "Caught Being Good" program could be expanded to give more students the chance to receive rewards.

Looking at monitoring and assessment of student achievement, the team found three strengths and had three recommendations.

On the plus side, the team said the development of Improvement Plans for each students will provide ongoing assessment of target group progress.

The weekly communication folders sent home on Mondays encourage a positive home/school relation; and grade level and departmental meetings provide consistent assessment procedures are beneficial.

The recommendations were to develop the assessment/measuring tools needed for consistency throughout the building.

The responsibility of the School Improvement Plan (SIP) needs to be broadened to include all staff.

The final recommendation was the target group needs to be more specifically identified and monitored annually for appropriate adjustments if needed.

In the area of high expectations, the strengths found at GMS were: the improvement plan utilizes a variety of types of facilitators; and the goals relate to the improving of students' academic achievement and behavior.

The team recommended consideration be given to tying the High Expectations Improvement Plan to the subgroup of low achievers; the school ensure all actions are accessible; and the committee use archival and achievement data in the SIP.

School representatives said they were excited about the COE program at GMS, along with getting a good report from the team.

Officials at GMS plan to begin a morning reading program and will work to get parents involved in checking student(s) homework.

There was some concern voiced about the steps to the cafeteria, but officials with GMS said this area is only used during lunch periods. A gate needs to be installed at the top of the stairs, they said, with a rail needed down the middle of the staircase as well.

Many of the problems found at GMS by the NCA/COE team could be corrected when a new school is built on the property owned by the district where Gurdon High School currently is.