Schools Superintendent Sydney Cousin met with Howard County teachers throughout the past school year in an effort to improve the school system.
“We had candid conversations on how to move the school system from good to great,” Cousin said at a County School Board meeting last week. “It helped me to do my job better to hear what teachers had to say.”
In clusters of two teachers from eight high schools, Cousin and Board Member Sandra Erickson asked what they thought the school system was doing well and what needed to be improved. Teachers were happy overall with the sense of community in the school system, the professional development provided to staff and the support for curriculum and programs, Erickson said.
But teachers also offered suggestions for improvement, with a need for additional staffing taking priority.
“They need more instructional staff, technical support and reading specialists,” Erickson said.
Just weeks after completing the study, the school system has taken steps to address the teachers? concerns.
Additional support positions were added into the budget to help the overwhelmed staff and the curriculum was streamlined to slow down the amount of information loaded into one course. Elementary school teachers were also given more time to plan curriculum and submit grades, according to the report compiled by Theresa Alban, school system director of student assessment.
The need for more planning time came after teachers said professional development programs were pulling them out of too many classes, without enough qualified substitute teachers.
“We redesigned professional development starting this summer, so that we have less pullout during the school year by about 50 percent,” Erickson said. “We will pay teachers to come during the summer.”
The school board plans to continue the initiative next year with more teacher representatives from each school to geta broader range of concerns.
