The Pearl River County School District held a special meeting Wednesday to discuss the results of an external review of the school system by AdvancED. The review was conducted in late November to evaluate each aspect of the school system to identify strengths and weaknesses and also give the district accreditation.
“I would like to start off by saying wow,” Garry Rickard, Associate Producer of AdvancED said. “This school system is amazing and we all were impressed from start to finish.”
The AdvancED external review team examined student performance results, instructional quality, student and family engagement, support services for student learning, curriculum quality, efficacy, college and career readiness data and many other aspects.
“When it comes down to it, all of our success comes from a group effort, and a large portion of that is our amazing teachers,” Superintendent Alan Lumpkin said. “We have such an amazing staff here and they truly go above and beyond to make sure each student has a welcoming and fun environment to learn and excel.”
During the review, Rickard shared the strengths and challenges the PRC School District currently has. The district’s strengths include its superintendent, collaboration, communication (system/school level), supportive Board of Education, leadership (Board, central office, principals), PLCs, people, high morale, data usage and advisory groups.
“Honestly, there were so many great things going on here that we couldn’t write them all down,” Rickard said.
Some of the challenges the school system faces, according to the AdvancED team, include funding, upgrading facilities, growth, family engagement and student advocacy.
Toward the end of the review, Rickard showed the PRC Board of Trustees the Index of Education Quality, which elicited smiles across the room.
The IEQ can be broken down into three categories, teaching and learning impact, leadership capacity and resource utilization.
In the three main categories, AdvancED ranked the PRC School District as above average. The AdvancED network average for teaching and learning impact is 278.34 and PRC’s score was 304.76. With a national average of 292.64 in leadership capacity, PRC scored a 345 out of a possible 400 points.
“If this score was any higher, you could expect to get a call from headquarters wondering what you are doing,” Rickard said jokingly. “To score a high number like this in leadership capacity shows a lot about each and every individual’s dedication to their job.”
PRC scored 300 points in resource utilization, which has an AdvancED network average of 283.23.
Overall, PRC School District scored a 315.61, which is 37.27 points above the AdvancED network average.
“We are so proud of everything going on here and to have such an amazing Blue Devils family is a blessing,” Lumpkin said.