Editor's note: This is the first in a series of stories examining what districts are doing to improve their students' performances on AYP and other academic achievement testing measures.

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HANK DEWALD /HERALD STAFF WRITER

HALIFAX - Halifax County Schools Superintendent Geraldine Middleton discussed her plans for improving the district AYP scores, student graduation rates and sending more Halifax kids to college during a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Herald Monday.

Middleton was frank about how the district stacks up against other districts across the nation, but optimistic about showing improvement this coming school year.

“I think when you see the data, we had lots of positives,” She said, “When you look at AYP, we didn't do well, but when you look in the data and look at individual schools, individual grades and those kinds of things, we did have some things to celebrate.”

She said the overall data for the state was somewhat surprising to everyone including the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. “I think the data caught everyone a little off guard. When you start hearing some of the more progressive districts, like Wake County saying they fell way behind what they expected with AYP results, it surprised everyone, even the state.”

Her plans for improving the district AYP performance involve working with other districts involved in the Roanoke Valley Consortium, a group made up of Weldon, Roanoke Rapids, Northampton, Warren and Bertie school districts.

“We meet monthly and discuss things that are specific to the eastern districts and we talk about things that are working in our districts. We do talk and share ideas.”

Middleton said she is taking advantage of all resources available to her, such as organizations and associations of school administrators, who discuss different approaches that are showing positive results. “There are lots of Web resources out there and we're taking advantage of all of it.”

As far as the DPI, Middleton said Halifax has had a close relationship with them since she was the principal at Brawley Middle School in 1997, with the school assistance teams and that relationship continues to this day.

She has also involved the students and community in the effort to improve district performance. She said some of the feedback from the students themselves is surprising.

“We had a community forum with a group of students made up of middle and high school students and they were very clear. When you ask the students about testing and do you think it's fair and that sort of thing, generally speaking the students feel there should be some sort of measure of what they have to achieve.”

“The students themselves said they thought a more rigorous curriculum and more opportunities to take higher level courses (is what they want). They compared their opportunities here with students and friends they had in different schools, like charter schools and other districts, and wanted more enrichment courses like drama and the arts.”

Middleton has also had to focus on changing the curriculum to match the new high school graduation requirements, with the goal of not only increasing the number of students graduating, but also the number that go on to college.

“How do we make them college ready, which is one of the state goals. We want them to start taking those ACT and SAT tests by the 11th grade, hopefully by the 10th grade. So we're doing a lot at getting students ready to move on beyond high school.”

Middleton continues to work with the other school districts on an early college program, but the financial difficulties Halifax faces have delayed progress. She said there are other programs also in the works now though. “Dual enrollment is an alternative to that, where students are enrolled in both high school and college,” she said. “We have some of our students who enroll through “virtual high school' and we have students enrolled in the School for Math and Science, so we are doing that, just not in a formal sense.”

She listed many different options and ways of accomplishing the district and state goals. She said Cyber Campus has been available in Halifax before it was in many other districts. That is where a teacher in a remote location like Halifax Community College for instance, teachers classes over closed-circuit TV, to many classes in different schools, at the same time.

They have looked into having the teachers come to them, instead of bussing the students to the college. “That is very much an option,” she said.

In addition to seeking outside advice and help, Middleton and her staff have already implemented new programs like America's Choice program and another called AVID, that focus on middle school students.