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Guilford County Schools have implemented other initiatives, such as those listed below. For a complete list of initiatives and details, visit the Guilford County School system Web site:
Jump Start Reading (Trained Adult Tutors): Through the partnership of Communities in Schools of High Point, the High Point Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation of High Point, United Way of High Point and Guilford County Schools, fourth and fifth graders in 12 elementary schools received tutoring from 300+ volunteers in reading and writing.
Junior Achievement of Central North Carolina, Inc. (JA): These programs have impacted about 6,000 Guilford County students from K-12th grade with classes available in 210 GC classrooms.
Kids Voting: is a nonpartisan organization that educates students about the importance of being informed voters.
Mandarin Chinese: GCS welcomed three Mandarin Chinese teachers to classrooms. The Chinese Guest Teacher Program seeks to immerse U.S. students in Chinese language and culture.
NovaNET is an online learning system with interactive instructional courseware. NovaNET provides more than 10,000 hours of self-paced lessons in subject areas aligned with the NC curriculum. All GS high schools use NovaNET in a variety of ways including Guided Studies, after school programs, Saturday School, NC Competency Test preparation, homebound students, and credit recovery.
Paideia Program: Teachers integrate three kinds of teaching in K-12: didactic instruction for conveying knowledge, coaching sessions to develop skills for learning; and Socratic seminars to enhance critical thinking and communication skills.
Staff development is provided by the National Paideia Center at the UNC Greensboro. In 1997, the Joseph B. Bryan Foundation awarded a million-dollar grant to the National Paideia Center to train all Guilford County teachers in Paideia over a four-year period. By 2000, over 4000 teachers and administrators were trained in the Paideia philosophy.
Physical Education: All Guilford County Schools offer a comprehensive physical education program as required by the State.
Project Fit America encourages K-12 children to develop lifelong fitness habits. The program includes permanent outdoor fitness equipment, teacher training, and a cardiovascular instructional package that can be used to enhance teaching in the Healthful Living Education Standard Course of Study.
The program is administered by a public charity, Project Fit America (PFA), founded in 1990 as a 501(c)(3) organization "dedicated to making kids fit."
Project Math is funded by the ABC Innovative Challenge Grant. This program raises the number of students "on grade level" (Level III/IV on the North Carolina end-of-grade math test).
Project Math places a computerized math center in fifth grade classrooms of targeted schools. Students can use the technology 15-20 minutes each day. In 2000-2001, Project Math was implemented in about 30 fifth grade classrooms.
Project Read/Write employs daily activities at technology-enhanced instruction for at-risk learners. Nineteen of twenty-one impacted elementary schools received Project Read/Write for their 3rd grade students.
Project Read/Write places a computerized Reading Center in each third grade classroom of the targeted schools.
Reading Together: is a peer tutoring program that focuses on the reading comprehension skills of second graders. The second grade student is tutored by a fifth grade student using Reading Together materials.
The Responsible Discipline Process assists school staff in developing a plan for teaching students how to behave responsibly. Six schools began implementing the process during the 1999-2000. Five schools were later added.
Safe and Drug Free Schools program: provides age-appropriate drug and violence prevention programs for K-12 students consistent with state and federal laws. The school system receives support and assistance from the Guilford County Sheriffs, High Point City Police, Greensboro Police, and Gibsonville Police departments to provide the DARE program to all 5th grade classes.
School/Community Alternative Learning Environments (SCALE) provides students who have been suspended an opportunity to continue their education. The program enables students to return to a regular school setting.
SCALE operates off school campuses at 7 community sites, each serving about 20 students. Staffing includes regular classroom teachers, special education teachers, teacher assistants, social workers, counselors and a school resource officer.
Science Engineering Communication and Mathematics Enrichment (SECME) is a pre-college program in middle and high schools that prepares students for engineering and other technical fields. Guilford County Schools works with faculty members from NC A&T State University.
Special Education Services: Guilford County Schools offers services for children with special needs, including autistic, educable mentally disabled, hearing impaired, moderate-to-profound disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), preschool developmentally disabled, speech or language impaired, visually impaired, and vocational transition services (for all special education students, beginning at age 14 and no later than 16).
Workforce Development Education programs are provided in GCS grades 6 through 12. The program prepares students for further technical education and employment and helps students to make educational and career decisions.
The North Carolina Window of Information on Student Education (NC WISE) is an electronic student accounting system that is based on the Electronic Student Information System (eSIS), an Internet-based software package that provides student and school information management capabilities. Data are stored centrally and accessed and reported in a safe, secure manner across the Internet. NC WISE supports the data analysis and reporting requirements of education initiatives such as the North Carolinas ABCs of Public Education accountability program, the Uniform Education Reporting System (UERS), and Closing the Achievement Gap.
The roll-out of NC WISE began October 2004 with Wave 1, and will conclude at the end of Wave 3 scheduled for completion in the 2008-09 school year. When complete, NC WISE will operate in all of North Carolinas 115 school districts and 100 charter schools.
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