Jefferson County elementary and middle schools are expected to add more teachers and instructional coaches next school year after improved scores on standardized tests. Voters approved the plan in 1999. This school year was the first that the additional tax money was available. Higher third-grade reading scores this year appear to indicate the added teachers and smaller classes paid off, and the district wants to repeat the success. Third-grade reading scores released this month showed that students with proficient or advanced reading skills increased 5 percent, from 74 percent in 2000 to 79 percent this year.
Resources make a difference.
She said schools that had instructional coaches this year had an average of 82 percent of the third-graders reading at proficient or advanced levels. The school board will vote on the plan to add teachers on Thursday. It calls for 66 additional instructional coaches to serve all elementary and middle schools and six middle school teachers to schools with more than 400 students. Not all schools got instructional coaches in the first round of funding. If the students' academic performance continues to improve, the additions could help the district earn millions more in tax money in 2002.