The head of Prince George’s County schools vowed Tuesday night to “dramatically improve student achievement” as he said that the county had showed strong academic gains.
In his first State of the Schools address since becoming superintendent this year, William R. Hite Jr. said the system should try to “make every child in Prince George’s County smarter.” He spoke for greater accountability for teachers, more prekindergarten classes, better customer service and alternatives for students who aren’t succeeding.
In recent years, Prince George’s has experimented in some schools with a pay-for-performance model that offers bonuses to excellent teachers, and Hite said Tuesday that effective teachers can make significant differences.
“We cannot construct a definition [of teacher effectiveness] that does not include student performance as one of the indicators,” Hite said.