For Allegany County an NEA Urban Grant is the BEST
If it’s true that it takes a village to raise a child, it certainly follows that it takes a team of dedicated professional educators to provide the quality public school education Marylanders expect and deserve for their students.
For the Allegany County Teachers Association (ACTA), a $5,000 NEA Urban
Grant was the ticket to Building Education
Our school improvement plan now incorporates the specific indicators of a quality school. We can use both BEST and KEYS to continually
monitor and refine our efforts which are completely focused on maximizing our
students’ achievement.
LeeAnn Zlomeck
School Improvement Specialist, Washington MS, Allegany County
Success Together (BEST), MSTA’s
professional development training focusing on building collaborative
relationships with stakeholders in the area’s public school community.
The grant supported teams of ACTA members from Allegany HS, Fort Hill HS, Flintstone ES and West Side ES to attend the BEST Winter Camp training in Solomon’s Island in southern Maryland. BEST is based on the premise that all stakeholders need to be involved in building a thriving school culture where they are empowered and positive.
“As a teachers’ organization, we believe that teachers who focus on professional development are increasingly effective in eliminating gaps in student learning,” said Valeria Arch, ACTA president. “It follows, then, that effective professional development and improved student achievement take place in a public education environment where, as the BEST training shows us, stakeholders continually explore ways to improve learning.
“For ACTA, professional development activities focus on three communities of professional learners - new teachers, principals and county School Improvement Teams like those who attended the BEST training,” Arch continued.
Arch speaks from experience. She’s watched the growth of Allegany’s Washington MS, where improvements are quantifiable. Principal Harry Smith, a graduate of last year’s BEST training said, “BEST contributed to our staff development challenges. Our students improved their MSA performance as a result of our employing BEST strategies of motivation, organization and total faculty participation for staff development.”
“Our experience has proved that investing in professional development pays off in student learning,” said Steve Benson, MSTA UniServ director in Allegany and Garrett counties. “We consider professional development like BEST an integral part of the service we provide our members.”
LeeAnn Zlomeck, a National Board Certified Teacher and active Allegany County member, attended BEST last year. As the school improvement specialist at Washington MS, Zlomeck sees the positive impact BEST brought to her school.
“The BEST training provided the structure we needed to help define the needs and attitudes of our staff,” she said. “At the BEST training, we discussed the characteristics of quality schools and what we could do to create the best learning environment for our students.
“We administered the NEA KEYS survey and used the results as a basis for our school improvement plan, our staff development focus, and to open the lines of communication between teachers and administration. The results have been positive,” Zlomeck adds. “Our school improvement plan now incorporates the specific indicators of a quality school. We can use both BEST and KEYS to continually monitor and refine our efforts which are completely focused on maximizing our students’ achievement.”
Extending the BEST philosophy further, ACTA and the county’s School Improvement Teams co-hosted, with the county’s superintendent, an evening workshop for principals, administrators, and School Improvement Teams. “Having all education stakeholders working together to increase the level of public education in Allegany County’s public schools is significant.” said Arch, “It demonstrates a real commitment to the success of our children.”
ACTA plans to use MSTA programs to follow up on the momentum of BEST. MSTA’s I Can Do It offers valuable support in classroom management skills for new teachers; Megaskills offers techniques for successful instruction.
“The NEA Urban Grant makes it possible to begin a process that should continue if we are to expect progress in our public schools,” said Arch. “Students count on all of us to work together to provide them with excellent teachers who are committed to quality instruction.”
