State school board praises Deasy for his reform efforts

‘‘The performance in the system has definitely turned around,” said state Board Member Karabelle Pizzigati. ‘‘[He’s] moving the train rapidly down the track.

‘‘Kids can’t wait, and that is his point: it’s all about students’ time.”

Deasy’s report to the board on Tuesday came just two weeks before elementary and middle school students take the Maryland School Assessments in reading and mathematics that will help show whether Deasy’s sweeping reforms are effective.

State board members were confident that his reforms, which include greater academic rigor at all levels in all schools, high levels of student and teacher accountability and intensive support for chronically under-performing schools, would have significant dividends.

‘‘It’s good news for Prince George’s County that you’re building an infrastructure that is solid so our students can continue to improve,” said Board Member Tonya Miles, who is the county representative in the group.

Board members were particularly impressed with Deasy’s plan to monitor every school to track progress from the start of his initiatives through the next several years.

He called them ‘‘growth over time models.”

They also praised him for working to improve top teacher recruitment and retention, what Deasy has called the heart of improving student achievement, which most recently has come in the form of a human resources department shakeup where jobs have been rearranged and duties are being redefined.

‘‘Now it’s all about performance management,” Deasy told the board of his reforms package. ‘‘It’s about how we execute this work.

‘‘We’re working on getting this to happen and happen on scale for a school system of more than 130,000 students.”

Deasy also said the school system was working to install a performance-based pay program that would reward certified teachers for improving their students’ achievement and their own professional development goals.

Deasy also promised that all Title I schools, those with a majority of students living in poverty as well as schools that are on the state’s needs improvement list, will have all their teachers meet the highly-qualified status under federal No Child Left Behind laws.

‘‘This issue of equity is what drives us, bar none,” Deasy said. ‘‘It’s the law. We should be doing this.”

The county school system has two years to make significant improvements in federally mandated goals in reading and mathematics or it could face a state takeover of some of its schools.

The county school system was placed on the state’s watch list last year for failing to meet those improvement goals four years in a row.

E-mail Guy Leonard at gleonard@gazette.net.