Beech Tree News Network

How Butler County Schools Responded to Adversity to Enhance Academic Success

March 13, 2020, marked a significant day in the history of Butler County Schools and our nation as a whole. Students were sent home for an extended period due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. This time away from the social and educational environment resulted in substantial academic and social deficiencies. Educators worldwide were left without historical data or research to guide their decision-making on how to provide a highly effective education for all students. Butler County Schools utilized this challenging period to reflect, reimagine, and recreate the educational experience. The focus was on transforming an unfortunate situation into an opportunity for positive change.

Flash forward four and a half years later and Butler County Schools is bearing witness to the fruits of its labor, providing unprecedented opportunities and academic success for its students. The latest round of Federal and State Accountability Assessments present encouraging data for Butler County Schools, demonstrating significant progress in academic achievement. 

Here are a few highlights of academic growth within Butler County Schools over the past three years:

The data highlights impressive improvements in a three year span. While national headlines continue to share unflattering narratives about academic performance decline, Butler County Schools current assessment data shows differently. This data suggests academic performance is on the incline at an impressive rate for Butler County Schools.

How was this accomplished?

Much of the credit points toward the new systems, procedures, and strategic planning processes that took place during the pandemic. The district and school leaders worked collaboratively alongside community partners, local business and industry, teachers, and students to see the pandemic as an opportunity for change. BCS collaboratively crafted and deployed a new Strategic Plan for recovering not only from the pandemic but to come back stronger than ever before. This Strategic Plan can be viewed on the district webpage www.butlerschools.net.

The financial investment into instructional resources was highly impactful for student and teacher success. The district took advantage of an unprecedented pandemic funding known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds. BCS strategically identified resources for the students, teachers, and administrators that could not be financially considered in past years due to budget constraints. While all school districts obtained this funding, BCS prioritized the funding differently.

The financial investment into instructional resources was highly impactful for student and teacher success. The district took advantage of an unprecedented pandemic funding known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds. BCS strategically identified resources for the students, teachers, and administrators that could not be financially considered in past years due to budget constraints. While all school districts obtained this funding, BCS prioritized the funding differently than most. Most districts used the funding to employ more staff to help create smaller students to teacher ratios. Butler County Schools took a different approach by spending most of the funding on better resources, curriculum and facility enhancements to improve the learning environment. The largest investment in the classroom experience included a 1.5 million dollars investment into a highly viable curriculum for reading, math, social studies, and science. Putting textbooks back into the hands of all teachers and students for the first time in over a decade. BCS also purchased rigorous diagnostics and assessments that help teachers pinpoint deficiencies more effectively. Teachers began and continue to meet regularly to analyze the data and ensure all learners are getting targeted and personalized instruction where needed. BCS also used district funds to employ more social emotional therapists and SRO’s to ensure all social emotional trauma was identified and supported. The return from the pandemic brought forth alarming social and emotional trauma issues.  In addition to these investments, Butler County Schools, Principals, and Site-Based Councils prioritized the improvement of the physical condition of our schools through district-wide upgrades which have created a more inviting, clean, and brand focused environment for students to learn in.  Significant investments ranging from HVAC and physical plant repairs to cleaning systems and paint, Butler County Schools welcomes its students daily with these improvements.

Instructional practices at Butler County Schools have been reimagined and reinforced. Classrooms across all schools are putting a large emphasis on creating vibrant learning experiences for all students. Teachers are visiting each other's classrooms and collaborating with each other to help build, improve, and increase student engagement with learning critical learning tasks. The school system has partnered with educational consultants with the use of a Deeper Learning Grant that helps build deeper connections to learning tasks for all students.

“Ensuring that our students are moving from the sit and get lecture experience, to an experience that puts the students in highly engaged tasks, is so crucial to our belief of what a great classroom experience should be. This allows our students to experience and demonstrate the knowledge and understanding of the skills that are being taught. It is our firm belief that you can’t truly obtain knowledge until you put it into practice. Multiple choice, fill in the blank type assessments have a small place in the learning process. However, those often test memorization, not the applicable usage of the learned knowledge or skills. We are working on an educational experience that turns learning into doing.” Says Chief Academic Officer and Assistant Superintendent Josh Belcher.

With this initiative, BCS has generated the “Portrait of a Learner.” This initiative puts forth an intentional teaching of five (5) core competencies that have been identified by the Butler County Schools stakeholders such as students, teachers, parents, businesses, local government and community partners.  Those competencies include: Character, Problem Solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Global Citizenship. Students are learning and completing tasks and projects throughout the school year meant to deepen their knowledge and abilities to use durable skills associated through those competencies that are important for future success. The Portrait of a Learner can be found at www.butlerschools.net .

Despite the success and uplifting improvements that the district is currently experiencing and celebrating, they are not done yet explained Superintendent Robert Tuck.  “We have to continue to strive to evolve with the changing demands of the world we live in. Our mission is to ensure that our schools provide meaningful, hands-on learning experiences that support our students from cradle to career. By integrating and expanding experiences like service-based and work-based learning, we are not only preparing students for the evolving workforce but also enhancing our 'Portrait of a Learner' skills—fostering critical thinking, collaboration, adaptability, and resilience. Our cradle-to-career approach focuses on building a seamless support system that nurtures students' development from early childhood through their journey into adulthood. Together with our educators, families, and community partners, we are creating an environment where each student can discover their strengths, embrace challenges, and step confidently into the future, ready to make a positive impact on the world."