The Georgia Department of Education announced that once again Miller County schools have achieved 100% of the faculty, including teachers and paraprofessional teacher assistants, from all three schools as highly qualified to teach the subject and area they have been assigned to teach. This is the second consecutive year that Miller County District schools have achieved this status. In 2008, only 14 systems across the state could claim the 100% status, and the Miller school district was recognized as one of the 14. This year the Miller County School District is among 47 systems across the state achieving this goal. Joining in this claim from the Southwest Georgia area are Decatur County, Pelham City, and Thomasville City systems.

Deborah Clarke, director of teacher quality, has worked closely with school administrators to make sure that Miller County District schools remain in the top percentage of systems maintaining this status across the state. For the FY’10 school year the focus has expanded to include equitable instruction and highly effective teachers as Miller County District Schools join the rest of the state in the Race to the Top. During the first few weeks of school, principals from each school reviewed class demographics and student needs to assure that equitable instructional situations are present for all students. They will review class rosters again in January when the new semester begins.

Miller County District has rightly achieved this status because of the quality of teachers in the school system, teachers who give of their time continuously to make sure that the needs of students are met. Professional learning is a major component of teacher quality. This year, faculty from each school is participating in professional learning to assure that standards-based instruction is the foundation of each classroom. Instructional coaches, Dawn Shepard and Debra Calhoun, Miller County Elementary School at, Diane Copeland at Miller County Middle School, and Harriet Lane at Miller County High School, work daily with teachers providing them with instructional support. These support coaches gather materials, model instructional strategies, and have been critical in the planning and preparation of Benchmark Assessment administration. The data from these Benchmark Assessments provide teachers with information about the needs of their students.