|
Hand
Middle is one of 17 public schools in the state honored as
winners of prestigious Exemplary Writing Program Awards.
State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum announced the winning
schools after a comprehensive five-month evaluation that
included a site visit.
“The ability to communicate is absolutely vital, not only to succeed in
school but to succeed in work and in life,” Tenenbaum
said. “Our
Exemplary Writing schools have created excellent
instructional programs for their students, and they are
places where writing is taught across the entire
curriculum. It’s an integral part of everything students do.”
The Exemplary Writing
Program is sponsored by the State Department of Education,
administered by the Writing Improvement Network and
governed by the Writing Improvement Coordinating Council.
The award is based on an extensive evaluation of
the schools’ instructional programs, with a particular
emphasis on the teaching of writing.
Schools
attempting to win the honor were judged on 10 different
instructional criteria.
The 112 applicants detailed how they had
implemented their writing programs with reference to
leadership, faculty knowledge of research and theory,
curriculum, assessment and community partnership.
Twenty-nine schools were chosen for site visits by
two-judge teams appointed by the Writing Improvement
Coordinating Council. Of those 29, 17 were announced as winners.
The
program was established in 1987 but is continually
monitored to reflect the latest in the research and theory
of teaching students to be effective writers.
For this year’s awards, scoring of applications
was recalibrated to set a higher standard for what
constitutes a truly outstanding writing program.
“These
17 schools offer us a vision of what is possible,” said
Christy Clonts, director of the Writing Improvement
Network. “They
serve as remarkable models and mentors for how to teach
all students to be effective and joyful readers and
writers. The faculty and staff at each of these schools
are joyful readers, writers and learners themselves.”
The Writing Improvement Network is a state-funded
organization based at the University of South Carolina
that works with local school districts to improve reading
and writing skills.
#######
#######
|
