Fairfax County education officials are set to roll out a new million-dollar program aimed at improving student performance this year.
The Priority Schools program will provide additional resources, funding and training to educators at 30 of Fairfax’s roughly 200 public schools, according to Deputy School Superintendent Richard Moniuszko.
Moniuszko said the program — which will cost county taxpayers about $1.3 million this year — is designed to eradicate the “achievement gap.”
“In Fairfax, our white and Asian students as a group perform at a much higher level than our black and Hispanic students, and we want to close that gap,” Moniuszko said.
Schools officials identified the 30 “priority schools” based on the size of the performance gap, as well as on the percentage of students during the last three years who failed to pass the state’s mandated reading and math tests.
As part of the new program, Moniuszko said schools officials have established special teams of advisers, who met this month with principals at the schools to review education plans for the coming year.
Moniuszko said the new program also will include funding for additional after-school or summer teaching hours, as well as other education resources for some schools.
“It’s not a formula program, it’s a more customized approach,” he said, explaining that Priority Schools would be implemented differently at each school depending on the circumstances.
Fairfax County Public Schools spokesman Paul Regnier said all 30 schools would receive additional resources, and roughly 20 of the school’s principals had earlier this summer attended an executive education program at the University of Virginia.
Moniuszko said the principals received advanced training in leadership, “managing change” and analyzing data to get results.
Schools officials have approved the Priority Schools program for a three-year run, although county funding is allocated only for the first year.
Moniuszko said he hoped the achievement gap would be narrowed or eradicated by the end of the three years. But if the gap still exists, he said schools officials might extend or expand the program.
