STATE BEGINS NEW CRITIQUE OF EDUCATION

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Nell Holcomb has visitors this week checking out all parts of the school program from the superintendent to the kindergarten classroom.

The 10-member team is conducting an evaluation for the new "Missouri School Improvement Plan," explained Gretchen Woods, team leader and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's area coordinator for special education.

"This is a new approach to evaluating the educational programs and processes at each school district," Woods said. "We are here taking a look at Nell Holcomb's business of educating students."

Every district in the state is scheduled to be reviewed sometime during a five-year cycle.

"We take a look at programs the district provides and will draw a consensus about whether the district is meeting the minimum standards of education," Woods said.

At the end of the evaluation, districts receive a report listing "strengths and areas of concern," Woods said. "We also make recommendations about improvements which could be made and resources available to help them."

During the day and a half review of the Nell Holcomb school, the evaluation team is interviewing administrators, teachers, school board members and other employees. The on-site inspection began Thursday and is expected to be completed today.

Woods said: "We toured the facility and we are visiting classrooms and watching as children change classes and go out to recess.

"I had an interview with a 7-year-old first grader named Caleb Buis," Woods said. "He talked to me about how much he liked school."

Dan Taylor, school board president at Nell Holcomb, said he was looking forward to receiving the team's evaluation report about the school.

"One of the reasons I was interested in being on the school board was because I didn't think Nell Holcomb was getting the recognition it deserves. Perhaps it's because we're out here in the country, and no one gets a chance to see us much," Taylor said.

"Hopefully they will find out what we already know this is a real good school. But I also look at this as a report card with suggestions about what we can do better."

The review will provide Nell Holcomb and the other districts with a new classification, explained Dan Tallent, area supervisor of instruction with the state education department.

Currently schools are divided into three classification groups: unclassified, AA and AAA.

"The classification was based almost exclusively on input data, the number of books in the library, the number of teachers per pupil," Tallent said. "There was no real evaluation of performance or outcomes."

In the early 1980s, as education reforms began throughout the state, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education took a look at the way schools were evaluated and decided to make a change, Tallent said.

"Five years ago, we started developing the new system," Tallent said. "Three years ago, we did the first pilot evaluation in 10 districts.

At the same time, Tallent said, a statewide committee developed a new set of standards by which schools should be judged.

"So basically we have a new set of standards and a new way to evaluate schools against those standards," Tallent said.

The Jackson district was evaluated Tuesday and Wednesday. Chaffee and Farmington, in Southeast Missouri, have also been through the process. Tallent said Oak Ridge is scheduled for review in February.

"The intent is not to compare school systems," Tallent said, "but rather to evaluate this school and suggest ways to make it better."