Maybe you attended the alumni awards ceremony, which recognized Dr. G. Richard Marzolf, Frank Chiodo, Ray Roderick, Jim Crews, Ruth Anne Miller, Gary Mangina, Dixie Lewis, and Ken Berglund. Who Excel dinner at the Crown Plaza in Springfield, which honored Fred Basolo, Judy Fisher, Dan Irvin, and J. D. Hawkins. We see excellence demonstrated daily by our students in and outside the classroom. What is not as easily noticed, but remains equally as important, is the commitment this work takes on the part of students, teachers, and parents. Our discussion at the October faculty meeting dealt with the dilemma of setting standards.
Standards define quality.
Standards transcend an individual s interpretation of what is of value and provide focus on common expectations. Although individuals define their own effort, standards record and document success. It is attention to state and national standards that provides us insight into documenting improvements in student performance. Working within this stimulating environment does increase performance. Our FY00 school improvement plan requires that we define what measures our departments use and should use to document progress toward our K-12 learning benchmarks.