Introducing Middle School Consultant Dr. Barry Beers

Dear Amherst Regional Middle School Community:

 

One of the goals from the 2009-2010 Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional District Goals document, approved by the Regional School Committee and this Superintendent, is to "Assess the effectiveness of the Amherst Regional Middle School. Prepare and begin to implement a set of recommendations based on the assessment.” The School Committee and I were also in agreement that it would be most effective to bring in a Middle School expert from outside the district in order to have an authoritative, unbiased evaluation.

 

After the bidding process was complete, the consulting contract was awarded to Dr. Barry Beers to lead this review. Dr. Beers was an extremely successful and highly regarded middle and high school principal with both state (Virginia) and national awards to his credit. He is a published author and serves as a consultant to several schools and districts across the nation. Dr. Beers works in various states—particularly the Virginia Department of Education—with low-performing, state-sanctioned schools (See attached resume). In addition, Dr. Beers also works with medium- to high-performing schools that lack a data-driven focus, purposeful professional development, aligned curriculum and instructional practices, common assessments, and a strategic school improvement plan geared to maximizing student achievement and providing measurable outcomes. He now brings his research and experiential base to Amherst Regional Middle School.

 

Dr. Beers has carefully studied the middle school's data, ranging from student achievement trend data to parent and teacher surveys. He has already met, and will continue to meet, with teacher/curriculum leaders, as well as school site administrators and me. He will also meet with a parent focus group and collect as much qualitative data as possible, in addition to the quantitative data he has already gathered. Dr. Beers will work closely with the school's leadership to assist in and model how to create a data-rich School Improvement Plan. He will provide a blueprint on "next steps"—both short-term (January-June, 2010) and long-term, as well. 

 

It is my distinct pleasure to welcome Dr. Barry Beers to Amherst.

 

Sincerely,

 

Alberto Rodriguez, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools