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Schools

First 'R' helps rise from D to B

Countryside High's principal wins a state award after making reading fundamental throughout the school, raising FCAT scores.

By SHEELA RAMAN
Published September 20, 2006

CLEARWATER - At Countryside High School, going to math class means time for reading.

So does science.

And gym.

In the three years since principal Gerald Schlereth arrived at Countryside, reading, reading and more reading has been the school's agenda.

The strategy has paid off.

On Tuesday, Schlereth, 49, of Palm Harbor, traveled to Tallahassee, where the state Board of Education honored him as one of Florida's 14 highest-performing high school principals.

Over the past three years, Countryside has raised its grade under Florida's A-Plus school grading plan from a D to a B and has held that higher grade for two years. Countryside was the only school in Tampa Bay to make that improvement.

Going from a D to a B is "an amazing turnaround for a school," said Department of Education spokeswoman Cathy Schroeder.

The Florida Department of Education grades schools largely based on Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test scores. When Schlereth came to Countryside in January 2004, he said he noticed low reading scores were weighing the school down.

Changes soon followed. Students could no longer linger in the halls. And no matter what the subject, teachers had to make kids read.

In math class, students now make pamphlets explaining what they have learned. These read like narratives, with less emphasis on numbers, Schlereth said .

One student's pamphlet was titled Algebra for Dummies, he said.

In weight-training class, students read articles about different training methods, then wrote their own responses, Schlereth said.

With the help of administrators and faculty, Schlereth initiated Reading Counts, a program that added books to the media center for students to read if they finish work early in class. Teachers can excuse students from class to get a book from the center. They can then take quizzes on the books for small prizes.

Joyce Dimmer, 46, teaches 10th grade honors English as well as a journalism elective at Countryside. She said she has noticed a big improvement after Schlereth took charge.

"I feel my 10th-graders have come in more aware of how to read a passage and pull out pertinent information that's not specifically stated in the passage," said Dimmer, who has taught at Countryside for eight years.

"He should be commended, but it has really been the whole school working` together to implement his measures."

Countryside could never have improved without the teachers' dedication, Schlereth said. They have attended professional workshops to bring more reading into the curriculum, and have been committed to improvement, he said.

It's been essential to involve the faculty in every initiative, said Pinellas County schools Area III superintendent Michael Bessette.

"They have strong relationships down at that school," said Bessette, who has supervised Countryside for the past year. "The students and the teachers can buy in to what's happening, and that's how you accomplish."

The Tuesday gathering in Tallahassee marked the first time the state has honored principals for high achievement, Schroeder said.

"We recognize that leadership plays a critical role in whether a school succeeds," Schroeder said. The state hopes that connecting the best leaders will lead to a sharing of the best practices across counties, she said.

There was no monetary award presented to the honored principals, but Countryside did receive $236,459 in additional funding after the school improved from a D to a B in the 2004-05 school year, Schroeder said. A school gets $100 extra per student each time it improves a grade or maintains an A grade, she said.

Even though the school has improved, it will stick to its emphasis on reading, Schlereth said.

"Looking at the FCAT results, that's still what we need to focus on," he said.

[Last modified September 20, 2006, 07:23:33]