Picking up speed

A school without an identity -- that's how some teachers describe last year's atmosphere at Central Middle School.

Six hundred students and 50 teachers were thrown together, the result of a districtwide grade reconfiguration.

It wasn't until Missouri's accelerated schools project came along this fall that the building at 1900 Thilenius really became a school.

"It's all about working together, whether it's with students, teachers or parents," said sixth-grade teacher Anne Willis. "I think it's brought unity to the school."

Central Middle is one of around 200 schools currently participating in the accelerated schools project, a school improvement initiative that began in 1987 and focuses on student achievement and parental involvement.

The school is in the very first stages of what is intended to be at least a three-year project, but already teachers and parents say there's a difference.

"I think teachers here now have more say in what's going on," said Mary Ann Stamp, a fifth-grade teacher at Central Middle. "And part of this is a pride in our school."

Over the next year, the middle school employees will work to develop a common vision, take stock of their strengths and weaknesses, set priorities for improving student achievement and parental involvement, develop steering committees and teacher teams known as "cadres" and then develop solutions and an action plan to improve the school.

Visual evidence of the school's new focus is found on paper clouds taped to locker doors. Inside the clouds, students have described their dream school.

In most of them, candy and television are the operative words. But school officials plan to use the more relevant suggestions, such as additional computers, as student input in forming a school vision this year.

To become an accelerated school, at least 80 percent of the middle school's teachers had to vote in favor of adopting the initiative. Then the school had to apply for a grant to fund the professional development and other costs associated with the project.

The project is what principal Frank Ellis calls "a force to be reckoned with."

"As a new school, this gives us a direction," Ellis said. "We decided to do this because we want to have high expectations for all students, not just maintain the status quo."

Ellis received word over the summer that the school had been awarded a $75,000 grant to get things started this year. Parents will become involved through steering committees that will make decisions about happenings at the school.

Ellen Dillon, whose daughter Cecilia is a sixth-grader, is among the first parents to volunteer for a steering committee.

"This is all focused on children. That's what I love," Dillon said. "And I think teachers will be more successful because they'll feel more support from parents and the community."

Dillon said she was most interested in the program because of its emphasis on parental involvement

"This program makes it possible for busy parents to still have a role in their child's education," Dillon said.

Offered through DESE

The accelerated school project is offered through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Teachers at the middle school work with Peggy Hitt, coordinator of the accelerated schools project in Southeast Missouri. She is based at Southeast Missouri State University.

Hitt oversees 29 schools in this region and is a former principal of an accelerated school. Twenty-six of those schools have been participating in the project for three or more years.

While Central Middle School is the only Cape Girardeau accelerated school, schools in Bloomfield, Chaffee, Oak Ridge and Oran also participate.

"It's a good way to run a school and tie in the community," said Hitt.

The project began 16 years ago with six elementary schools adopting the ideas of Henry Levin, a professor at Teachers College at Columbia University. It follows three principles: unity of purpose, empowerment of responsibility and building on strengths.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128