Part 1: Atlanta Public Schools Look to Excellence Project To Improve Student Achievement

It’s called The Excellence Project and according to APS officials it will ensure student success and provide resources for educators.

A year ago after becoming the interim superintendent, Erroll Davis told WABE whatever he didn’t know about running a school district he would hire the right people who do.

“I tend to learn things rather quickly and I try to get things done through people who do know the lay of the land.”

So Davis brought Steve Smith on board who’s now the associate superintendent.

“Shortly after Erroll and I got here, part of his task involved the instructional program as well so, once we were able to get a chief academic officer on board that being Karen Waldon we then started the process of mapping out what we thought would be a very effective instructional program to meet the needs of our kids.”

Karen Waldon is the district’s deputy superintendent of curriculum.

Instruction says Waldon was a critical area APS needed to overhaul.

She says now that APS is no longer bound by all the guidelines of No Child Left Behind, the student workload will be more demanding.

“We’ve done a whole realignment in terms of looking at what services we need to provide our students K-12 to ensure we provide the quality instruction our students need and deserve.”

Under the Excellence Project, the new curriculum change will be evaluated in a number of ways says Steve Smith.

It will include, “end of course tests, it includes standardized testing, it includes assessment that individual teachers provide on day to day basis in terms of their classroom. So, it’s a comprehensive approach,” says Smith.

But before that can happen, problems of the past must be identified.

Smith says this is where the consulting firm Bain and Company comes in.

“They have been helpful because they’ve had the opportunity to look at best practices across the nation and they’ve got some work they’ve done in that area. They’ve got a specific arm of their firm that has done work in the education arena.”

Officials with Bain & Company declined to be interviewed and deferred questioning to APS.

While it’s still somewhat vague what exactly Bain & Company will do for APS, Steve Smith says the firm will complete its part of the Excellence Project in December.

What is clear about the Excellence Project is that it’s a three phase plan.

APS officials say that includes assessing the current state of student achievement, finding the problem areas and then putting measures in place to improve student achievement.