Priorities for Educational Excellence in Prince George's County
 | Strong Focus on Middle and High Schools: Establish school-wide discipline with preventive measures and greater accountability for students and parents; offer more rigorous courses; set high expectations for student achievement. Hiqh-Quality Instruction at All Levels: Improve teacher salaries and working conditions; support innovation; provide incentives for teachers in challenging schools.
School and Community: Ensure schools are safe and well equipped; involve parents and community; provide programs for multicultural education and bilingual schools; promote strong family outreach. |
| Teaching and Learning at the Center of the System As a Member of the Board of Education, Heather Iliff will promote a vision for the school system that places teaching and learning at the center of the system. Rather than a top-down bureaucracy where teachers implement endless directives from above, the administration should operate in service of the teachers and the schools. Principals must ensure that teachers have the resources they need to help ALL students achieve. The Board and staff are accountable for ensuring schools have what they need to support teaching and learning. Whether there is a leaky roof that needs to be fixed, a teaching aide position that needs to be filled, or advanced instructional materials needed, the school and the system must be dedicated to helping teachers succeed in the classroom. |
Guiding Principles
Innovation: Supporting innovative teachers and schools, and helping successful innovations spread. Counties across the country are struggling to close the achievement gap with current practice. Innovation will need to flourish if we are to become a national leader in educational turn-around.
Excellence: Hiring and retaining the best teachers and administrators, providing high-quality instructional materials, and ensuring safe, up-to-date facilities in all schools. To achieve excellence resources must be spent wisely, eliminating wasteful and unethical spending practices and using every asset in the system to advance student achievement.
Rigor: Setting high expectations for student performance and offering a range of advanced courses and career education at high school levels. The world of work is changing rapidly, and students need a different skill set today to compete and succeed in our changing economy.