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    "ocrText": "SEP-03-1998 17:54\nOFC OF THE DEP SECY\n202 401 9027\nP.11/19\nthe standards that they would be required to participate in our Summer STARS program\nand that they might not be promoted to the next grade in the fall. In addition to Summer\nSTARS, we also provided students with a wide range of supports during the school year --\nincluding before and after school tutoring, Saturday academies and other opportunities for\nextended learning -- to help them reach the new, higher standards.\nI think the outstanding response we had to the Summer STARS program which attracted\nalmost 25,000 students, the majority of whom attended voluntarily is reflective of how\nseriously our students, and their parents, are taking the new standards. It was truly\nexciting to me to see so many young people spending their summer working to improve\ncritical reading and mathematics skills. In fact, I believe that this program is one that other\nschool districts will want to replicate.\nOur second priority was accountability. We held people accountable, across the system,\nfor student performance. We instituted a new principal evaluation system in which fifty\npercent of a principal's evaluation was based on student achievement. Every principal in\nthe system was expected to improve student performance, and some schools were required\nto increase test scores by ten percent. Based on results of the new evaluation system and\nattrition, I have named new principals to 39 schools for the coming school year. In\naddition, two schools are being reconstituted, meaning that a new staff will be put in place\nand a research-based reform model will be implemented there.\nMy third priority was professional development. I know that people must not only be\ncommitted to success; they must also have the skills they need to succeed. During the\nschool year, we provided focused professional development for principals and teachers on\nstandards, curriculum, instructional strategies, and class management. In addition, in\npreparation for the coming year, we just completed a week-long conference for principals,\nteachers, school system staff, parents, students, and members of the community. We\ninvited parents and community members to the conference for the first time this year,\nbecause we know that they are a key part of our team and that we need their help to\nsucceed. The conference covered a wide range of issues, from standards-based education\nand our school-to-careers effort to teacher appraisal and fiscal management.\nFinally, we made a concerted effort to engage the public in our plan. We asked parents to\nbe involved in the education of their children both at home and at school and we tried to\ngive them the tools they needed to do that. We held meetings for parents and others in the\nDC public schools family to discuss the test scores, the new standards, the promotion\nguidelines and summer school. We published substantive newsletters on the new reading\nand mathematics standards and the Summer STARS program, provided targeted training\nfor parents on reading, mathematics and the Stanford 9, and asked members of the\nbusiness and faith communities to participate in Everybody Reads and other tutoring\nprograms. I truly believed that this community would get behind our reform effort if we\ntalked to people about it and asked for their help, and they did.\nMoving Forward in School Year 1998-99\nWe have gained real momentum and we intend to keep moving forward, and reaching\nhigher, in the coming year. In preparation for the our September 1 opening, we have taken\na number of key steps. As I mentioned earlier, I have appointed a number of new\nprincipals to schools throughout the system. In addition, we have hired over 100 new\nteachers to replace teachers who have left the system or did not possess valid teaching\ncertificates. All teachers will report to work tomorrow and will spend the next three days"
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