By Erica Thomas, managing editor
ASHVILLE — The St. Clair County Board of Education is putting an emphasis on improving its state report card score.
In 2019, the school system improved from 84 to 87. Superintendent Mike Howard said by focusing on chronic absentees, achievement tests and College and Career Readiness standards, he hopes the school will be able to score an A on the next report card in 2020.
An anonymous donor already gave money to the school system to award staff and students with perfect attendance.
“A lot of students are attending school more regularly,” said Howard. “We are making great strides in that area, so I’m real proud of that.”
Now, Howard said the system is checking boxes for standardized testing and technical training.
“For me, my personal opinion is that the ACT is not a true indication of how we perform as a school system or even as how each individual school performs,” said Howard. “You’re measuring 100% of the students on an ACT college entrance exam when only 30% go to college. So, the other 70% are taking a test that they really don’t care about.”
Howard said he wants all students to think about how important test-taking is for the school system. When it comes to those who are not interested in furthering their education, Howard wants to see more opportunities for students.
“On the college and career readiness standards, there are multiple ways to get credentialling, so what we’re doing now is researching and looking at how some of the other school systems are using their career tech department to offer advanced classes in high school,” he said. “That will double as college credit and will double as their college and career readiness standards.”
The school system is also discussing ways to provide tutoring for students interested in enrichment.
