While the school year ended on May 26 for students, May 30 teachers and administrators in the Dougherty County School System were already hard at work reviewing data and developing plans and strategies to improve for the next school year. 

Staff were engrossed in data that reviewed performance indicators on a wide variety of items from academic instruction to school climate.

Dr. Zeda George, principal at International Studies Elementary Charter School, said that the sessions reinforce her notion that schools should continually be doing honest self-evaluation and making adjustments for the benefit of the students.

"We're not going to be data driven any more," George said. "We're going to be data-informed. We're going to use the data to inform decisions on how we can best serve our students. It's an in-depth learning process for us. It's not something you can put on a shelf. You need to consistently review the information. If you don't review yourself, how do you know if you're getting better or worse? And you have to get your stakeholders involved, because it's a team effort."

For the first time, staff are working on a combined Needs Assessment and School Improvement Plan. And while each school's plan will reflect the needs of that individual school, overall, they should reflect the district wide plan, Director of Federal Programs Dr. Kim Ezekiel said. 

"They'll determine the needs of the school and then develop strategies and a plan - goals and objectives and timelines -- to meet those goals," Ezekiel said. "Each school received some pre-populated data from the GaDOE and they're looking at that data and assessing where they need to focus their time and their resources. While its specific to that school, their plans should align to the district wide plan."