Alleghany Highlands - UVA Collaborative Project

About the Project

Our research team partners with the Alleghany Highlands community in an education reform initiative supported by the Alleghany Foundation.

Through an extensive data collection effort in 2016, our team used surveys and interviews to understand the educational goals and needs of students and families in the two school divisions that make up Alleghany Highlands, Alleghany County Public Schools (ACPS) and Covington City Public Schools (CCPS). The data revealed six recommendations for educational investment in the community.

Now, our goal is to support the workgroups in the Alleghany Highlands each tackling one of these recommendation through their decision-making and strategic planning.

The Funding

The work has been funded by the Alleghany Foundation, Curry IDEAs (Innovative, Developmental, Exploratory Awards), and training grants from the U.S. Department of Education.

Recommendations:

Recommendation #1: Build a community of support for continuous improvement in support of student learning.

Recommendation #2: Establish a culture of collaboration in each school that includes ongoing dialogue and reflection around a common language of high quality teaching and learning.

Recommendation #3: Promote a school culture that values both academic achievement and respect for each other.

Recommendation #4: Enhance the quality of early childhood experiences in the Alleghany Highlands.

Recommendation #5: Develop and implement new strategies to engage families as partners in their children’s learning

Recommendation #6: Enhance the quality of instruction in key academic content areas, starting with English Language Arts.