AIKEN --- Schools usually have walls plastered with children's artwork and writing, but with an educator's eye the work is more than just a covering for cinder-block walls.
"See how this student worked with organizers," said Beth Everitt, Aiken County's school superintendent, about cause-and-effect maps at Chukker Creek Elementary. "These skills will serve them past this lesson."
As she pointed out the neat handwriting of first-graders and the complex thinking skills of third-graders during her visit on Friday, Dr. Everitt was also making sure all those lessons fed into instruction.
Throughout the past year, Dr. Everitt's visits to Aiken County schools have been about putting instruction first.
"It's a priority for her to be in the schools," said Sal Minolfo, the Redcliffe Elementary principal, who said he has seen her more often in the past year than he had previous administrators.
Though visiting schools is part of Dr. Everitt's job, Mr. Minolfo and other administrators say the way she conducts her visits has kept the district more focused than it was in the past.
"She doesn't want to rely on others' experiences in the buildings; she wants to see it for herself," Mr. Minolfo said.
Putting instruction first has become a motto of district personnel. Whether it's a lesson about similes or history, each wall display includes an explanation of the task pupils completed, how they completed it and a rubric showing their level of completion.
"A lot of the questions (during her visit) had very little to do with displays and more with content and instruction," said Mr. Minolfo.
Chukker Creek Elementary Principal Amy Gregory said she still gets nervous about the visits, but the consistent visits during the past year have shown Mrs. Gregory and other administrators that Dr. Everitt is there to see firsthand what the pupils are doing.
She has even begun including other administrators in her visits at least once a month.
During their "learning walks," Dr. Everitt and her cabinet-level staff, made up of associate and area assistant superintendents, visit a school with a checklist.
"We talk about if we have different views about what we saw, and if anything it's reinforcement that we all are seeing and valuing the good that we're seeing (in the classrooms)," said Dr. Cecelia Davidson, the Aiken County associate superintendent for administration.
Principals said the learning walks could be a bit intimidating, but they relish the opportunity to show off their students.
Wagener-Salley High School Principal Pat Keating used his visit earlier this school year as a chance to display the Junior ROTC program and the career technology department.
"They kind of want you to have a theme for the visit," Mr. Keating said. "They're asking if the standards and purposes of standards are posted, and they'll ask students, 'What are you learning today and why?' "
If students don't respond to the questions, that indicates the classroom might not be on track, Mr. Keating said.
Reach Julia Sellers at (706) 823-3424 or julia.sellers@augustachronicle.com
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