The Hernando County School District’s Race to the Top initiative supports quality teaching and learning in all schools. Improving students’ readiness for college and careers is the primary goal, and improving overall teacher effectiveness serves as the primary means for achieving this goal. As part of our Race to the Top initiative we will increase students’ opportunities to participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs; we will assess students’ academic growth in all subjects; we will evaluate our teachers and principals based on their assigned students’ academic growth; and we will reward our highly effective teachers through performance pay programs and by providing financial incentives for our highly effective teachers to voluntarily transfer to serve our lowest-performing students and schools. Our Race to the Top initiative will also increase use of technology by all stakeholders, including parents, to access students’ performance data to identify all students’ particular needs and to provide support and professional development to address all students’ particular needs. Our Race to the Top initiative represents the District’s commitment to continuous improvement and to involving all stakeholders in decision-making processes. Our newly-formed District School Improvement Committee functions as the central steering group for all school improvement and Race to the Top initiatives; however, the district will form focus groups consisting of students, parents, teachers, and community volunteers who will collaborate to ensure that all of our Race to the Top projects represent all stakeholders’ interests and needs.
Last Updated on Wednesday, January 02 2013 13:58
