Dr. Beers Returns to ARMS

Dr. Barry Beers visited Amherst Regional Middle School on May 13 and 14 to continue to help the middle school address identified areas in his Needs Assessment report. Over the two days, Dr. Beers met with the School Council, observed the interviews with the applicants for the assistant principal position, ate lunch with some students, and met with the curriculum leaders in Science and Social Studies to review their part of the data-driven school improvement plan. Parent Cathy Cullen filed this report about his visit:

I am on the School Council, so I was present at a meeting on Friday to begin to review the ARMS Family Surveys that have been returned. Dr. Beers was really excited about our very high response rate-- 75% of middle school families have returned survey evaluations! He was impressed by the leap over last year's rate of return, which was less than 30%. Principal Mike Hayes said that students were given the survey to take home as an assignment in one of their classes. This idea came from parent MJ Viederman and proved to be very effective.

The council reviewed the communication portion of the preliminary data. Overall, the communication from the middle school to home was ranked good to excellent by over 80% of the respondents. Parents indicated that they were pleased with the efforts of the school personnel to provide them with timely information. In addition, they felt that they had viable options for communicating with the school if they desired. Dr. Beers also commented on the quality of the school as reflected in the 95% who agree or strongly agree that their children feel safe and the school respects differences.

In addition to reviewing the results of the survey, the School Council discussed the school improvement plan with Principal Mike Hayes. During our discussion, Dr. Beers lent advice to make the plan more concrete and measurable. He reminded us of his philosophy that the plan is never finished; it will continue to be refined as directives are achieved and new priorities emerge. He also emphasized sharing the School Improvement Plan and ownership of the goals with all of the stakeholders.

Looking ahead, the council discussed incorporating goals for next year, such as investigating the possibilities of additional conference time and providing training for parents in use of the online gradebook. The council also addressed the next task identified in the Needs Assessment Report: developing a homework/grading policy for the middle school. The school improvement plan will be presented to the Regional School Committee in August.

Dr. Beers complimented the School Council on their obvious growth and improvement over the time that he has worked with the group. He said, "Thanks to the leadership of Principal Mike Hayes and the dedication of the teachers and parents, I feel the School Council will continue to help the middle school in the quest to move from 'good to great.'" It has been an insightful process and I am very excited about the direction of the middle school!

Thanks to Cathy Cullen for filing this report.