September 12, 2005- For Immediate Release
Columbia County Schools - 6430 Pollards Pond Road, Appling,
GA 30802
For more information contact Dr. Williams at 541-0650
Columbia County
Reviews Alternate Proposal for Collaborative Planning
New Proposal Eliminates Need for Early Release
Last spring, school councils from our fifteen elementary schools were presented an early release proposal to support collaborative planning. Before considering such a major change for students, parent concerns were reviewed across our county and studied over the summer. An alternative proposal has been developed which would eliminate early release by utilizing paraprofessionals and substitute teachers while teachers meet in two hour intervals across grade levels. The use of collaborative planning days will be scheduled on Tuesday, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. A sign-up schedule for dates will be developed that considers the pool of qualified substitutes and provides consistency for students and teachers.
Even though the state does not allocate a planning period for elementary teachers, Columbia County Schools feels that collaborative planning is critical to implementing the new Georgia Performance Standards and improving the quality of student work. Columbia County Schools will combine budgeted staff development hours with the use of substitutes across grade levels so that teachers can meet twice a month for collaborative planning.
The expectations are that teachers will be actively participating and following an agenda that examines the curriculum, student achievement and /or instructional strategies and report to the principal on the work completed during collaborative planning. An assessment of the effectiveness of collaborative planning will be on-going and evaluated at the end of the school year.
Note: The Board gave final approval for this proposal at the
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