The Collinsville School District is one of 16 in the nation to receive a grant to focus on using school data to improve student achievement.

The district was awarded funding to participate in the "Closing the Gap" National Collaboration on School Improvement project overseen by the American Association of School Administrators and the Consortium for School Networking. The project is being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Collinsville school Superintendent Bob Green said the grant does not provide a specific dollar amount, but will cover expenses for three school administrators to attend a national education conference this month and for participation in collaborative meetings with the other 15 districts.

"This is going to help us identify different types of assessment methods and also software on how we can manage those assessments," Green said. "It will let us take the results and see how the individual did, the class did and the district did. We can see if there is a particular weakness in our curriculum or instructional strategies and make adjustments. It's just a way of looking at the information you've got and finding ways to improve it."

Green said that he and assistant superintendents Julie Brown and Susan Homes will be attending the National Conference on Education in Houston Feb. 16-19. Brown oversees curriculum and Homes is in charge of human resources for the district. Green said that the three administrators will discuss what they learn from the conference with school leaders and teachers.

"Principals and teachers will be partners," Green said. "We'll be learning together and making decisions together. It has to be driven by all parties."

Kevin Robinson, co-president of the 435-member Collinsville Educators Association, said that the feedback he's gotten from many of the teachers has been more than positive.

"The general message that I got from the teachers is everybody is super excited about the collaborative working environment that Dr. Green is bringing to this district," Robinson said. "I know this grant is essentially going to help teachers use software systems and data that will help us raise student achievement scores."

Green said one of the requirements of participating in the project is working with the other districts that have been selected.

"Part of the agreement is that ... we start talking to each other via email and we might figure out a time when we can get together face-to-face with them to try to learn best practices and to find what obstacles get in the way."

Contact reporter Ramona C. Sanders at 618-344-0264, ext. 136