The superintendent for the Eminence School District in Kentucky, Buddy Berry, will be coming to speak with teachers and administrators of Mid-Prairie, Washington, and WACO schools, but before he does, Mid-Prairie wanted to check out his district first hand. Six teachers and administrators recently traveled to Eminence, Kentucky, to view the school in person and see how he transformed it. Superintendent Mark Schneider says the Eminence district was once floundering, but was able to turn things around by adopting what’s commonly referred to as the 21st Century learning skills. Among the principals of that core is collaboration, communication, and creativity. Schneider says they set standards for each grade and made sure to include the 21st Century learning skills into each of the core classes.

After seeing the school and its progress first hand, the individuals who made the trip reported to the school board. Schneider said, “We wanted to see if it was as good as he described it. So that’s one of the main reasons we sent a team down there, to kind of kick the tires and poke around a little bit, and to see if it lived up to its reputation. And overall, the team found out that, yes, the things that they are portraying that they do, they actually do those things. And it has had a lot of effect on the students.” Schneider added, the day before their team attended the school, Berry had visited the White House to talk to President Barack Obama and other officials about their work. He’s looking forward to Berry’s visit to Washington, which is scheduled for February 17th.