Vision and Beliefs - Dr. William R. Hite 

My vision is to accelerate the academic progress made during the past two years; graduate every student college- and career-ready; and have our system and our county recognized as a leader of student achievement within our state and the nation.  I strongly believe our students need access to rigorous course work, highly effective and qualified teachers, competent leadership, safe, clean and orderly schools, and quality program options.  More importantly, this access cannot be negatively impacted by a presumed factor of poverty, race, zip code or religion.  Such access, in fact, shall be a certainty in Prince George’s County Public Schools and positively secured for all of our students.  Our Board of Education has established goals to insure that every child is achieving at high levels and that gaps in achievement among subgroups are eliminated.  I am committed to working with them and the entire PGCPS team to make these goals a reality.

Over the past several years, we have celebrated some amazing accomplishments by our students and our schools.  During that time, student achievement continues to climb and a record number of schools have exited school improvement.  This past year, approximately 88% of our elementary schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP); another 13 made AYP and are poised to exit school improvement.  Seventeen schools have exited school improvement, bringing our two-year total to 35.  For the first time ever, Prince George’s County Public Schools made AYP as a system.

We have experienced a dramatic increase in the number of classes taught by Highly Qualified Teachers, particularly in our schools of greatest need, and have implemented training programs to improve skills and conditions at the building level where teaching and learning occur.  We are also developing performance management systems that will require employees throughout our school system to be accountable.  In addition, we were awarded millions of dollars in grant funding from the United States Department of Education (Small Learning Communities, FIRST, GEAR UP, National Science Foundation), the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation (Performance Management).

While these accomplishments are noteworthy, we understand that our most important work lies ahead.  Addressing the problems associated with our secondary schools now must become an intense and immediate focal point for our work.  There are still too many of our middle and high school students dropping out of school, becoming truant, or failing.  The next phase of our core work must be directed at reversing this troubling trend.  In order to accomplish this, I plan to initiate a secondary (grades six through twelve) comprehensive reform strategy. 

What makes this particularly challenging is the fact that we will be attempting to sustain this work during a time of contracting resources.  Unfortunately, but inevitably, we will be operating with fewer resources than we have in the recent past.  This financial uncertainty requires us to be more comprehensive and strategic in our efforts to craft a budget for 2009-2010 and beyond.

Moving forward, continuity and sustainability are important foundation traits on which the future success of our students and our system depends.  We have made significant investments around our core beliefs and these investments are beginning to benefit our students.  I also plan to re-engage stakeholders in conversations about our schools and our school system.  In the near future, more community discussions about my beliefs and plans for our school system will be held.  At the conclusion of my entry period, I plan to release a more comprehensive statement formulated by the information collected during previous, and future meetings.  I hope you are available to join me once they have been scheduled.