Article Published 10/28/2005 in The Daily Ardmoreite

Education initiative nears goal of $2.5 million

ARDMORE, OK --The Cornerstone Education Initiative is nearing the goal of raising$2,500,000 for Ardmore and Plainview schools.

A report received by the Cornerstone Steering Committee on Oct. 21indicated a total of 85 business and individual investors had pledged$2,376,000.

Bill Owen and James Thompson, co-chairs of the initiative, are overwhelmed by the support of the Ardmore community and said additional funds will be used to expand the size or the length of the program.

The Cornerstone Program was designed to improve academic performance of students at Ardmore and Plainview Public Schools. This will be accomplished through the achievement of the following goals:

• Attract and retain excellent teachers and administrators, especially in hard-to-fill positions, such as science and math, through the payment of signing bonuses.
• Determine the level of student performance and improvement through the use of objective criteria, such as the Oklahoma State Testing Program results.
• Reward and retain excellent teachers and administrators through the payment of performance bonuses. Bonuses will be paid to individual teachers and administrators and groups of teachers who meet their goals for increased student academic performance, determined in advance.
• Supplement current summer school budgets to provide additional instruction to under-performing students and additional learning opportunities for students on grade level so they may advance or broaden their education.

The Cornerstone Steering Committee, comprised of local business and community leaders, met earlier in the week to review the progress of the initiative to date.

In addition to a report on the fund-raising goal, the committee received and update that several individuals had been interviewed for the position of director for student achievement, and more interviews we rescheduled.

The fund-raising portion of the five-year program is scheduled to end Dec. 1.

Information on the Cornerstone Program is available by contacting the Ardmore Chamber of Commerce at (580) 223-7765.