Spotlight
While the Frazier School Board might use regressive thinking when pulling together a budget, its progressive thinking toward curriculum has not gone without notice. The school recently hosted Raymond McNaulty to show off its programs that have taken Frazier from a distressed district 12 years ago to one of Pennsylvania’s top performers. McNaulty of the International Center for Leadership in Education is a former Vermont education commissioner and a senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The purpose of his visit was to look at innovative education programs that are geared toward raising achievement levels in economically-challenged districts.
Frazier, which began its quest alone to revamp programs to teach students the skills they need in today’s marketplace with a heavy emphasis on reading skills, has, like other area districts, joined forces with the REACH program. REACH works to link businesses and schools so that they are working in tandem to build the local economy.
The district and REACH appear to be heading in the right direction.