Grant money goes toward training Bibb teachers to bolster school performance

Teachers from four Bibb County high schools that are receiving millions in school improvement grants were putting the money to use Friday.

The teachers, who came from Southwest, Northeast and Rutland high schools and Hutchings Career Center, were getting trained to teach Advanced Placement courses, as well as other techniques to increase student rigor.

Most Bibb County schoolteachers were furloughed Friday while students were out for the Labor Day weekend, but these teachers were paid for the training from the grant.

Northeast High School physical education coach Robert Woods sat in the cafeteria with dozens of teachers taking a logic test, an example of how to stimulate students’ brains.

“Anything we can do to help the kids improve is to our advantage,” he said.

Several teachers said that they have rallied together more in the months since the high schools were identified by the state as among the lowest achieving 5 percent of schools statewide and provided as much as $12 million in federal funding to buy technology, train teachers and try new strategies starting this school year.

“A lot of responsibility is on us. If we don’t pass, we don’t have a job,” Woods said. “So now we’re all on the same page, which I think is good.”

There’s also more tutorial time for students, as well as new technology, such as iPods and netbooks, that will be purchased for classrooms.

Northeast implemented “Raider Time,” a block of 30 minutes during which teachers give students refreshers on End-of-Course Tests and the Georgia High School Graduation Test.

As a provision of the grant, all teachers in the four schools will be trained to teach gifted and Advanced Placement courses to raise the bar in their classrooms for all students, not just those identified as advanced.

Starting in 2011-12, teachers will be evaluated on their performance. They will earn up to $750 in rewards if showing gains — or face termination if not.

A core-subject teacher must increase End-Of-Course Test results and Georgia High School Graduation Test scores by 5 percent, while 70 percent of specialty teachers’ students must pass district-approved exams.

Tony Jones, a performance learning coach at Rutland High School, said there is a new sense of urgency for teachers to help students now.

He pointed to a new “storm watch center,” a bulletin board in a Rutland High School conference room full of test scores and student data that teachers at his school implemented this school year as reminders of where they are, and where they need to be.

One chart showed six seniors at Rutland still had not passed any subject of the Georgia High School Graduation Test, while 38 students at Rutland had passed all subjects but one.

“The days of being isolated in the classroom with the door closed is long gone” for teachers,” Jones said. “We’re not working as individuals.”

Aside from training, the schools have hired academic math coaches and literacy coaches to help teachers, and the Bibb County school system is interviewing candidates for a systemwide specialist to oversee the grant work.

Tami Jacobs, a Rutland High math I teacher, was training Friday with other math teachers on how to keep students engaged. “It’s about good, effective teaching,” she said. “We all need to be reminded.”

To contact writer Julie Hubbard, call 744-4331.