Signal Mountain’s award-winning schools are a big draw for parents and students. But there’s still room for improvement, according to local educators.
“A lot gets said about educational reform and fixing the bottom-performing students,” said Signal Mountain High School biology teacher Dean Cress. “The problem with kids coming from schools like Signal Mountain – smart, affluent kids graduating with 3.4s – is they’re still not being competitive, they’re not being prepared.
Dean Cress, Raquel Newton, Ronna-Renee Jackson, Heidi Mies and Gay Negus, from left, are asking community members to brainstorm the multitude of ways they can get involved with local schools. With the new STEM school set to open in Chattanooga this fall, best practices are going to be shared amongst the region’s schools.“We don’t recognize it. I didn’t recognize it with my kids.”
To help make the country as a whole more competitive, the Chattanooga community received federal money to open a school centered around science, technology, math and engineering. As school officials prepare for the public charter school’s first class of students, set to arrive this fall, local educators are studying up on ways to share best practices and resources amongst all area schools.
“What we’re trying to do is take the innovations and best practices that are going on all across the community behind closed doors … and connect the dots all across the region and get them back to teachers and students across the region,” said Ronna-Renee Jackson, interim director of the Chattanooga Technology Council who is involved with the STEM school.