Department Receives
Three NSPRA Awards
Each year, the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) presents awards to honor schools and District departments that demonstrate exemplary public relations projects, programs and publications. This year, the District’s Communications & Media Relations Department received three awards.
Award of Merit, Internal Newsletter Category: The 411 – News You Can Use About Broward Schools
Award of Merit, Special Purpose Publication Category: Communications Standards, a desktop flipchart
Honorable Mention, Special Purpose Publication Category: Media Relations Quick Guide
District’s Redesigned
Web site Launched
The District’s Web site (www.browardschools.com), a great source of information about schools and the District, now has a fresh new look and additional features.
In addition to interesting facts, media releases, school calendars, the Broward Snapshots photo gallery, District contact information, District history, employment opportunities, ways for parents to be involved in their children’s education and subscription information for E-News, the District’s monthly electronic newsletter, a number of new features have been added.
• An updated color-coded menu that includes a new parents’ section
complete with information about school registration, relocation, meals,
grades and he annual parents’ guide
• A list of Frequently Asked Questions
• An expanded multimedia resources section, including the new BCPS
Update video podcast, a monthly look at newsworthy events, activities
and happenings in Broward’s public schools; NetTV videos and other
video event podcasts (All District video podcasts are available through
the Web site or Apple iTunes.)
• Videos
The site is a three-time winner of the Golden Web Award presented by the International Association of Web masters and Designers and has been recognized by both the Sunshine State Public Relations Association and National School Public Relations Association. Portions of the site are available in Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole. |
One Voice Success Continues
For New School Year
The One Voice Plan, successfully introduced last year for the Superintendent Schools, will continue for the 2006/07 school year, with lessons learned incorporated into the program. Elements associated with the plan will continue, including student assessments approximately every six weeks, monthly team assessments and evaluation site visits.
Eighteen of the 32 identified Superintendent Schools, the designation for underperforming schools in the District, increased by at least one letter grade this past school year – a testament to the effectiveness of the One Voice Plan. Those Superintendent Schools that received a “C” or better rating from the state are being reclassified as Superintendent Schools of Achievement, but will continue to receive the academic and logistical support needed to maintain their academic progress. They may continue to be assigned a cNET coach, to work with teachers and other school-based staff in reinforcing the 8-Step Process and acquiring needed support, resources and staff development.
“The letter grade escalation is the first thing we look at in determining which Superintendent Schools attain this reclassification,” said Marcia Baldanza, Principal on Task Assignment for the Superintendent Schools. “From there, we look closely at performance trends over the past several years in order to determine if individual schools are likely to continue to advance student performance on a consistent basis,” she said.
Key components of the One Voice Plan include The Correlates of Effective Schools, the 8-Step Instructional Process and the High Yield Instructional Strategies. Additionally, the program ensures that individual schools have the required teaching materials, a positive climate for learning and a safe and orderly environment in all classrooms to meet students’ needs.
“Most of what we do is tied directly to the Sterling Process – Plan, Do, Study, Act. The Sterling Process is embedded into the One Voice Plan, because it is essential in sustaining the initial success the program has engineered,” said Baldanza.
Additional initiatives to be incorporated into the One Voice Plan for the 2006/07 school year include Highly Effective Questioning, standard-based curriculum, instruction and assessment.
Over the course of the 2005/06 school year, more than 14,000 mini-assessments were administered to 1st through 10th grade students. An estimated 9,000 classroom observations were made with growth-specific feedback provided to principals and school-based staff. Noticing the initial success of the One Voice Plan as implemented in the underperforming schools, a number of other schools proactively incorporated components of the plan into their instructional programs - a trend that is expected to continue.
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