ANSON COUNTY — Anson County School’s Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment (CIA) Karen Roseboro, updated Board of Education members on the recent strides her team has made in CIA and targeted tutoring programs.
“We began targeted tutoring and then had to stop due to inclement weather but we’re off and running now and we did use our level one and level two data to identify targeted tutoring- if there are any students that did not get an invitation to tutor we ask for those families to contact the schools and if there are slots available, then they are more than welcome to participate in the tutoring, but they need to contact the schools directly. We’ve identified our initial student group, and so we’re excited about that,” shared Rosoboro.
Pointing out some initial challenges were faced in regards to scheduling, Roseboro says through a concerted and strategic effort, tutoring has officially gotten off the ground.
“We are ending each school day at 4:30 p.m. and we have enjoyed collaborating with Mr [Cory] Ross [ACS Transportation Director] to help us get transportation for our most neediest students to make sure they all have access and opportunity to participate in tutoring.”
Roseboro also announced the successful launch of Portrait of A Graduate Family and Community Engagement Night.
“High school graduation credits changed in 2023 for a lot of districts. We are doing a lot of work to make sure that we are interpreting that information correctly.”
Part of what that looks like, according to Roseboro, is the CIA’s department’s new initiative called Bearcat E3, where faculty aspires to make sure all students graduate with a plan for success for being employed, enrolled or enlisted.
“We can do that with our new graduation requirements of 22. They have to have 22 credits to graduate,” said Roseboro.
“There are three other pathways in addition to the North Carolina Traditional Pathway of being future ready and the occupational course our students complete their 22 credits by the end of their sophomore or their early junior year they are to continue on with our partners at SPCC. They still are Anson County High School students as they aspire to be College and Career ready on the last three Pathways,” she explained.
When students have completed the last three pathways, they will earn a certificate in Career Technical Education or they will enter the college transfer program if they are a student of Cooperative Innovative High School, which is our early college. They are ineligible for early graduation and must continue on on their Associates track.
“And hot off the presses,” announced Roseboro, “I believe, as of today, we got word from DPI we are ahead of the game. We already put our fifth pathway into place so CCRG is going to be replaced with the Workforce Continuing Education pathway along with College and Career Promise.”
Having already met with SPCC faculty and Superintendent of Anson County Schools Brian Ratliff, Roseboro was pleased to share pamphlets and course catalogs are already being printed to ensure students know what courses are being offered and their corresponding transfer credits. Roseboro says many students have expressed a desire to better understand how to read their transcripts.
“I think that’s the most important piece for us that are in the school district because when we first heard about this we were all up in arms thinking we were going to have 16-year-old’s leaving school early, but that is not the case, and they do have to apply for early graduation. We have worked on an application process and we will have to update our policies to be sure that we are aligned with the process, but for many of our students that is a lofty goal. We know that many of them may aspire to do that but it will take the full four years to go ahead and complete these five pathways.”
Roseboro assured the Board Anson County Schools will continue to form meaningful partnerships with local colleges, universities, military recruiters, and industry leaders.
