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Show Child-centered program a success prove education," Garvin Carlile, area director, said. 'She is very creative and has the courage to take on difficult projects. At the same time she is sensitive to the needs of students, patrons and staff. We're finding that parents are very positive about the new program,' pro-gram,' Carlile said. "The key impact of our informa tion-sharing model is directly on the student,' says a statement policy. "With the support of the parents and the teacher, the student will learn to assume more responsibility for hisher education process, thus becoming a productive, decisionmaking decision-making individual and an asset to society. The model can be successfully suc-cessfully implemented into any school setting." By PAUL CHALLIS BOUNTIFUL The administrators, admin-istrators, teachers and parents at Bountiful Elementary School have united in creating a successful child-centered program helping students lengthen their stride in achievement levels. "The child moves to the center in the program, with the child's full participation in three conferences with parents and teacher," Principal Velda S. Morrow said. "They assess skills, set goals and focus on the child's self-esteem." Students benefit from teachers' preparation of a Student Educational Educa-tional Plan (SEP), a portfolio for each child which includes samples of work some for permanent filing and some to go home for sharing, shar-ing, a comprehensive assessment form which emphasizes production and responsibility. "One delightful tracking is an audio recording of the child's reading, each year throughout elementary school," Morrow said. "The goal is to empower students by their developing skills to evaluate and make responsible decisions, as required of responsible citizens." To enhance the experimental program called "Bountiful Elementary Elemen-tary Information Sharing Model," the school has received $30,000 state funding this year, in addition to Davis County School District funds. The first year (1989-90) the teachers donated their valuable time in developing and piloting the program. pro-gram. "There is a deep feeling at Bountiful Boun-tiful Elementary of focusing on what is best for the children. We have outstanding teachers who are professional and sensitive to needs of both students and parents," Morrow said. The principal credits teaching coordinator JoLyn Baldwin for much of the success of the pilot program. "She is the engineer who conveys the project to other teachers, and not without much time and energy." Baldwin said it has been a very positive program and the results have "overwhelming" and better than originally anticipated. "We had 99 percent of the parents involved at parentteacher conferences and that is just unheard of anywhere else in the state," Baldwin said. She said during the first year the students had trouble meeting the goals, but when the teachers and parents followed up with the three conferences with the child, "this year we are seeing changes and the students are meeting their own goals and their achievement level is higher." Baldwin said one of the keys is to involve the students in the conference con-ference process. "That way the student stu-dent is part of the program and writes the goals down on paper and can tack it to the refrigerator or hang it up in the bedroom." She added the goals are individually in-dividually tailored for the student so he or she is competing against him or herself not other members of the class, grade or school. "The parents have really gotten involved in the program and with all three the student, teacher and parent working together, it can't fail," Baldwin said. Both Morrow and Baldwin credit the teachers at Bountiful Elemen- STUDENT EDUCATIONAL PLAN "?S ?r BOUNTIFUL ELEMENTARY ClT) VJ DATE : MM:;,M AREAS OF EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE: AREAS WHERE PERFORMANCE COULD IMPROVE: STUDENT GOALS: PARENT GOALS: SIGNATURES: CHILD PARENT TEACHER Bountiful Elementary students are using this form to help them set and meet new goals in enhancing the education process in the classroom. tary for their sacrifices on making the project work. The first conference con-ference for the teachers was held in November. The remaining two, set for February and May, will be held on the teachers' own time. "Without the teachers support the program couldn't have ever gotten off the ground; it was a key element in the success of the project," pro-ject," Baldwin said. State and district officials have been pleased with the results of the project and hope to implement it into other schools in the future. "From the beginning Principal Morrow has shown a desire to explore ex-plore new horizons in order to im- |