Superintendent of Public Instruction Steve Staples praised Patrick County School administrators, teachers, staff, school bus drivers, cafeteria personnel and students while visiting Stuart Thursday.
“Some of the outcomes you all are achieving” are amazing, he said. “Congratulations on your hard work,” he said. “You all are working very hard.”
Results of the 2016-17 Standards of Learning (SOL) tests released by the state Department of Education earlier in the week showed gains in several areas since Patrick Schools Superintendent Bill Sroufe took over as interim superintendent in February 2014.
The local school division experienced increases in proficiency in areas of reading, math, science and social studies scores in several areas, officials said.
Across Virginia, student achievement on the SOLs was relatively unchanged compared with performance during the previous school year, the DOE reported.
Based on the School Quality Profile, since 2014 Patrick County Reading Proficiency has risen from 78 to 84 percent, math proficiency has risen from 83 to 87 percent, science proficiency from 81 to 86 percent and social studies proficiency from 87 to 91 percent, Sroufe said in a release.
Sroufe said all schools in Patrick County have shown “significant improvements. We keep making progress, our teachers do a wonderful job adapting to the (changes) in professional development, and our results show that.”
Staples agreed.
While in town, he visited Stuart Elementary School, interacting with staff and students.
In a kindergarten classroom, he watched as teacher Dana Dupree divided students into small groups, with each group assigned to work at different stations to learn about shapes and math.
Some students worked on iPads, others used Play-Doh to create shapes; still others used stamps and ink while another group counted the number of shapes on one card and then matched them with the corresponding answer found on another card.
Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Cyndi Williams said small group instruction is successful because education is “not a one-size fits all” proposition. “Students come to us with different skill sets.” Each student learns differently and at a different pace, she said. Also, teachers can provide additional help to any of the individual groups if needed.
“I’m sure that’s part of the reason you all do well,” Staples said of the individualized learning opportunities.
He visited other rooms as well, including students in Jessica Hutchens’ third grade and Lisa Stovall’s fourth grade, classes.
Staples said the learning tools and practices he saw represented “an investment in people; people working smart and people working hard.”
He commended elementary school personnel across the division, as well as support staff like school bus drivers and cafeteria personnel.
Staples continued his tour of local facilities at Patrick County High School, visiting classrooms along the way.
After viewing culinary arts, cosmetology, health occupations and other classrooms in the Career and Technical Education, Staples commended the division. He said “You have quite a few onsite career and technical programs. That’s hard to do” considering the costs of maintaining equipment and other factors. Overall, “it sounds like you’ve got great things going on. I’m very impressed.”
