Scott City schools on track with Common Core

The Scott City School District is on schedule to achieve its goal of aligning its curriculum with Common Core standards before its March 28 deadline, according to information from Dr. Keisha Panagos, K-12 curriculum and A+ coordinator.

Panagos presented reports on Common Core alignment and the A+ program at Wednesday evening's school board meeting.

According to the Common Core Standards Initiative website, the standards provide a "consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know" what's needed to help them. The standards are designed to "be robust and relevant in the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills" students need for success in college and careers, the site said.

Scott City began its transition last year to Common Core for English language arts and math. Now, Panagos said after the meeting, English language arts for kindergarten through 12th-grade students have been aligned.

"We've got all of our math done, except eighth grade and high school math, which we're doing next Thursday and Friday, and then we'll just have K through 3 [kindergarten through third grade] math to do," she added.

"So by March 3, we should have all K-12 math and ELA done. Hopefully, we won't have any snow days in February," Panagos said. "Our goal was March 28, and so by March 4 we should have everybody aligned."

As soon as the alignments are finished, "teachers go right back and start with their new curriculum," she said.

Panagos said the district has had to pay for all its own professional development and any needed resources have had to be shared or supplemental resources for students to use have had to be purchased.

"I pull in one grade level at a time to align," she said. "Subs [substitute teachers] are about $80 a day. We align for two days. When you're talking K-12, that's a lot of money and we pay for it all. Then all of the resources we need, we have to pay for it all."

Other business

• The board heard a report from Panagos on the district's A+ program, which has a total of 126 students enrolled this year. The district has 251 students in grades nine through 12, Panagos said.

A+ provides scholarship funds to graduates who meet certain standards and attend a participating public community college or vocational/technical school or certain private two-year vocational technical schools, according to the Missouri Department of Higher Education website.

• Superintendent Diann Ulmer showed the board a draft of the district's Comprehensive School Improvement Plan and invited suggestions. She said she would like to get the plan adopted at the next board meeting.
• Ulmer said the fall semester attendance rate was 96.3 percent. "I don't know if we've ever hit that high," she said. "It's phenomenal, really phenomenal. This is big news for us."

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

3000 Main St., Scott City, Mo.