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Three New Hanover County Elementary Schools
Receive Ready Schools Grant

New Hanover County Schools was one of eight counties, throughout the state, selected to receive the initial Ready Schools Grant. NHCS Senior Staff selected Sunset Park Elementary and Mary C. Williams Elementary, due to the challenges that they continue to face with meeting state and federal goals despite their hard work and dedication. In addition to those schools, the grant also wanted to take a closer look at a school's level of readiness on the other end of the spectrum, not facing as many challenges to meet state and federal goals, and Parsley Elementary was selected. The schools will share $7,500 to support their school’s planning and implementation efforts.

The Ready Schools Grant is a Kellogg Foundation grant funded through the North Carolina Partnership for Children (Smart Start) in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the North Carolina Office of School Readiness. The purpose of the grant is to offer schools an opportunity to assess their level of readiness to meet the needs of children and families in a number of areas.

Each school established its own Ready Schools Team, which also included community members, and they embarked upon a process to complete the High Scope Ready Schools Assessment, an in-depth study of schools' levels of readiness in the following areas:

Leaders and Leadership
Transitions
Teacher Supports
Engaging Environments
Effective Curricula
Family, School, and Community Partnerships
Respecting Diversity
Assessing Progress

For each of the areas, the teams had to collect evidence to demonstrate their performance in the area. The process provided an opportunity for dialogue and self-examination of every aspect of the schools' cultures and climates. Once the process was complete, each school entered its data into a software program and was provided a profile for each area of school readiness. The schools developed action plans for improvement and have discovered that this process is closely aligned with the new State Board of Education goals and the new Systemic School Improvement Planning process.

Parsley Elementary’s plan to improve transitions for students is well underway. They are working diligently to have every kindergarten teacher visit the homes of each of their incoming kindergarten students prior to the opening of school.

Sunset Park Elementary selected the area of respecting diversity to improve upon. Their action plan consists of developing an anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy, increase instructional materials that provide authentic images of all children and develop training to enhance understanding of diversity issues.

Mary C. Williams Elementary has selected to improve parental involvement as one of their goals. They are implementing a Parent Literacy program, planning Math Make and Take Nights, and D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read Nights).

For more information, contact the Public Relations Department at 910-254-4221.
 

 

News/Announcements

8/05/08