Finley's School Improvement Action Plan Underway
There are plans afoot to improve academic performance at J. Taylor Finley Middle School. The State Education Department has identified Finley as a school in "corrective action year one." The designation comes as a result of the scores of some students on state tests.
Finley Principal John Amato, Director of Humanities Joseph Leavy, Director of Foreign Language, ESL and Bilingual Programs Carmen Kasper and Special Education Chairperson (4-8) Linda Costello-Roth met and designed a school improvement action plan "to address student learning concerns in the short term," said Dr. Kenneth A. Card, Jr., assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
The plan was created after officials studied student performance data from the 2009/10 English language arts assessment and a mock assessment given to students in January.
In addition to the activities designed to implement the intervention that are in the action plan, Finley students on "Level 2" (meeting the basic state standards) are also enrolled in the district's Saturday Academy. An after school support program is also in place for students who are English language learners. The program is meant to prepare these students for the ELA assessment and the state English as a Second Language test.
Dr. Card said the team's members meet weekly to discuss the action plan's implementation "and to ensure teachers have the resources they need to implement the activities in the plan."