The STI Difference Maker Awards are awarded to those schools or districts that display exemplary efforts in improving student achievement through their students, schools, district and local community. These community/educational leaders are determined to make a positive impact every day and encourage their students, teachers and staff to make a difference. STI is privileged to have countless customers that promote leadership and influence others to share these same principals. We are honored to recognize their outstanding achievements and we hope these DIFFERENCE MAKERS will inspire others as everyone can make a difference!
After careful consideration of all the submissions for the STI Difference Maker Award, STI is proud to announce the winner for the 3rd Quarter 2009. It was a difficult decision as many of the submissions are exceeding what is expected of them within their district and have made such a positive impact within their schools, districts, and communities. The 2009 STI Difference Maker Award is presented to:
Coffee County Schools
Elba, AL
Mark Coale, Golda Donaldson, Annette Presley, Jennifer Lee, Terry Weeks
Please join us in congratulating Coffee County for making a difference in their community.
Coffee County Schools has been using STIAchievement Services for over a full school year. They have had many successes with improving Student Achievement.
Here is the full story:In the spring of 2008, our staff at the Coffee County Board of Education was completing our analysis of testing data and finishing our accountability reports. We realized that in order to stay ahead of the constantly increasing AMO’s required by No Child Left Behind, we would have to develop a more comprehensive and timely formative assessment cycle to guide our teachers in making their Instructional decisions relate more closely to standards.
Members of our staff attended a presentation of STIAchievement Services in February of 2008. We were able to see that the program offered by STI would provide us with the expertise and materials we would need to develop a comprehensive formative assessment structure. A contract was negotiated that we were able to personalize to the unique circumstances of our district; a small, rural district in southeast Alabama.
Beginning in the spring and summer of 2008, we were able to convene professional development meetings with our school faculties and the Achievement Coach from STI. The teachers learned to identify elements of strength and weakness from our AHSGE and ARMT/SAT-10 results in new and better ways. Pacing guides were developed by the teachers, with guidance from the Coach. Formative assessments were developed by the Coach, including pre and post test Benchmark Assessments, to align our instruction more closely to Standards.
The goal of our use of STI Achievement Services was to provide guidance to our local schools. The training of our administrators and faculty to develop a process that can be sustained will enable our system to develop our own assessments, district-wide, school-wide and in the individual classroom, to meet the future needs of our students.
We are planning our second year with STI Achievement Services. We will scale back our reliance on the Achievement Coach and turn more responsibility over to the individual schools. In this way, we believe the investment of teachers in the program will help them use the program with more confidence and understanding.
Mark S. Coale
Special Programs Coordinator
Coffee County Board of Education
Elba, Alabama