Cal U to compile education report card for Fayette County
Frazier School District Superintendent Dr. Frederick Smeigh knows Fayette County’s school leaders have challenges, but he insists they want to make sure every one of their students has a chance to learn what they need to know to do well when they graduate. “Fayette County has the highest percentage of children living in poverty in Pennsylvania,” Smeigh said during a meeting Thursday at California University of Pennsylvania.
That’s why a group of Fayette County school officials and representatives from Cal U plan to compile a report card of sorts on the state of education in the county, as a first step in addressing issues in local education.
Adding that the county ranks at the top in children on medical assistance and has a poor record of pre-natal care, Smeigh quoted the recent Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children report, “Miles to Go: The Well-Being of Pennsylvania’s Rural Children.’
In the report, Fayette led the state’s 33 rural counties with 29.8 percent of its children 17 and younger living in poverty.
“We all know that means we have more children who are difficult to bring up to standards and need services,” he said. “Even though we have many who do well and are bright and excel, we have many who don’t. The goal is to bring all up to the necessary standards to have a good life and be successful.”
Smeigh and Gerri Jones, dean of the Cal U College of Education, led a discussion Thursday with representatives from Albert Gallatin Area, Brownsville Area, Connellsville Area and Laurel Highlands school districts, the Fayette County Vocational-Technical School, Penn State Fayette and Fay-Penn Economic Development Council. The gathering came out of the Reaching Educational Achievement with Community Help (REACH) collaboration of educators and business leaders aimed at improving Fayette County schools.
What exactly are they dealing with? How well do the schools do their jobs now? What are the programs that can help them do better?
The collective questions are many, but the group agreed the starting point is to put together the related data and that the information must be consistent and reliable among all of the districts. The group also acknowledged a number of existing reports and surveys that can be of use, but they need this database to be tailored to the county so they can make informed choices.
“To know what the tasks are ahead of us, we have to collect the data to that end,” Jones said.
Cal U President Dr. Angelo Armenti Jr. pledged the university’s support.
“I know you have a very serious challenge,” he said.
William Cooper, an adjunct faculty member in Cal U’s Department of Educational Studies, and Dr. Leonard Colelli, dean of the Cal U Eberly College of Science and Technology, spoke of grant opportunities they are exploring that can help the school leaders.
Cooper said the local superintendents have told him they would like help with on-site teacher training. He outlined a grant that could cover a “mini-university” at the districts that want training in their schools. He said the sociology and education departments are seeking a grant that would fund a study of high-achieving rural school districts.
Colelli said Cal U has joined a number of other universities to pursue a grant that would focus on improving the teaching of science and mathematics in middle schools.
Penn State Fayette Director of Outreach Joe Segilia likewise offered that university’s support.
Besides using obvious academic results like the language arts, math and writing scores of the familiar Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) tests, the group talked about compiling data on thinking skills, personal qualities like character education and workplace competencies. They also listed demographics and socioeconomic factors and even student characteristics like age and gender as useful data.
Smeigh said this state of education in Fayette County report would start small and change as new information is added. He said school officials ultimately would have to analyze the data and decide how to attack areas of weakness.
“This is a long-term project,” he said.